Added 9 October 2026
inflation
/ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/ noun
Latin root: īnflātiō Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about inflation at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
A general and progressive increase in prices.
in inflation everything gets more valuable except money
- (cosmology) a brief exponential expansion of the universe (faster than the speed of light) postulated to have occurred shortly after the big bang.
- Lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity.
Origin
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French inflation (“swelling”), from Latin īnflātiō (“expansion", "blowing up”), from īnflātus, the perfect passive participle of īnflō (“blow into, expand”), from in (“into”) + flō (“blow”). By surface analysis, inflate + -ion.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)