inflation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a general and progressive increase in prices
    rising prices.
    • in inflation everything gets more valuable except money
  2. noun (cosmology) a brief exponential expansion of the universe (faster than the speed of light) postulated to have occurred shortly after the big bang
  3. noun lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity
    splashiness; pompousness; pretentiousness; ostentation; puffiness; pomposity; ostentatiousness.
  4. noun the act of filling something with air

WordNet

In*fla"tion noun
Etymology
L. inflatio: cf. F. inflation.
Definitions
  1. The act or process of inflating, or the state of being inflated, as with air or gas; distention; expansion; enlargement. Boyle.
  2. The state of being puffed up, as with pride; conceit; vanity. B. Jonson.
  3. Undue expansion or increase, from overissue; -- said of currency. U.S.

Webster 1913