Commentary: A general economic term for an increase in prices and a resulting devaluation of currency. Also used for similar devaluations, such as grade inflation.
Examples:
The 1920s were a period of rampant inflation.
The Inflation Index has reached dangerously high levels recently.
Gasoline seemed cheaper ten years ago, but maybe it's just inflation.
Top-ranked schools have witnessed an inflation of grade-point averages since the nineteen-sixties.
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WordNet 2.0 Sense Numbers:
1
Commentary: INFLATION[+event] The act of filling something, such as a balloon, with air.
Examples:
The inflation of the air mattress took all night, mostly because we have poor lung capacity.
Upon inflation, the balloon began to rise.
Mappings:
WordNet 2.0 Sense Numbers:
4
Commentary: In cosmology, refers to the faster-than-light expansion of the Universe in the moments after the Big Bang.
Examples:
Inflation is a general term for models of the Universe which involve short periods of extremely fast expansion.
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WordNet 2.0 Sense Numbers:
2
Commentary: A personal quality; lacking elegance because of vanity. Pompousness, ostentatiousness, splashiness.
Examples:
After a few minutes, I began to find John's inflation annoying.
Mappings:
WordNet 2.0 Sense Numbers:
3