inflation
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
See also Inflation
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English, from Latin īnflātiō (“‘expansion", "blowing up’”), from īnfātus, the perfect passive participle of īnflō (“‘blow into", "expand’”), from in (“‘into’”) + flō (“‘blow’”).
[edit] Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -eɪʃǝn
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
inflation (plural inflations)
- An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas.
- The inflation of the balloon took five hours.
- (economics) An increase in the general level of prices or in the cost of living.
- (economics) A decline in the value of money.
- (economics) An increase in the quantity of money. Usually describes the creation of more fiat money or paper tickets by a nation-state. Leads to the devaluation of existing money, and all prices in that money rise. Price increases are a consequence of inflation.
- Undue expansion or increase, as of academic grades.
- (cosmology) An extremely rapid expansion of the universe, theorised to have occurred very shortly after the big bang.
[edit] Antonyms
[edit] Derived terms
- core inflation
- grade inflation
- hyperinflation
- inflationary
- stagflation
- superinflation
- taxonomic inflation
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
expansion or increase in size
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increase in prices
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inflation of the universe
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[edit] References
- (cosmology) Burgess & Quevedo, "The Great Cosmic Roller-Coaster Ride", Scientific American, November 2007, pg. 57.
[edit] French
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɛ̃.fla.sjɔ̃/
- Homophones: inflations
[edit] Etymology
See inflation.
[edit] Noun
inflation f. (plural inflations)