different between outbreak vs contagion

English

Etymology

From Middle English outbreken, oute-breken, from Old English ?t?brecan (“to break out”), equivalent to out- +? break. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uutbreeke (“to break out; burst out”), West Frisian útbrekke (“to break out”), Dutch uitbreken (“to break out, burst out”), German ausbrechen (“to break out, erupt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?tb?e?k/
• Hyphenation: out?break

Noun

outbreak (plural outbreaks)

1. An eruption; the sudden appearance of a rash, disease, etc.

   Any epidemic outbreak causes understandable panic.

2. (figuratively) An outburst or sudden eruption, especially of violence and mischief.

   There has been an outbreak of broken windows in the street.

3. A sudden increase.

   There has been an outbreak of vandalism at the school.

4. A geological layer that breaks out.

Synonyms

• (figurative outburst): outburst, tumult

Antonyms

• inbreak

Translations

Verb

outbreak (third-person singular simple present outbreaks, present participle outbreaking, simple past outbroke, past participle outbroken)

1. (intransitive) To burst out.
2. (intransitive) To break forth.

See also

• breakout

Anagrams

• break out, breakout, kabouter, outbrake

English

Etymology

From Middle English (late 14th century), from Old French, from Latin cont?gi? (“a touching, contact, contagion”) related to conting? (“touch closely”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?te?d??n/
• Rhymes: -e?d??n

Noun

contagion (countable and uncountable, plural contagions)

1. A disease spread by contact.
2. The spread or transmission of such a disease.

   Synonym: infection

3. (figuratively, by extension) The spread of anything likened to a contagious disease.
   1. (finance) The spread of (initially small) shocks, which initially affect only a few financial institutions or a particular region of an economy, to other financial sectors and other countries whose economies were previously healthy.
      • 2011, George Soros, Project Syndicate, Germany Must Defend the Euro:

        And it was German procrastination that aggravated the Greek crisis and caused the contagion that turned it into an existential crisis for Europe.

4. (finance) A recession or crisis developed in such manner.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• quarantine
• Contagious disease on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• cognation

French

Etymology

From Latin cont?gi?.

Noun

contagion f (plural contagions)

1. contagion

Related terms

• contagieux

Further reading

• “contagion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).