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Synonyms

spate

American  
[speyt] / speɪt /

noun

  1. a sudden, almost overwhelming, outpouring.

    a spate of angry words.

  2. British.

    1. a flood or inundation.

    2. a river flooding its banks.

    3. a sudden or heavy rainstorm.

spate British  
/ speɪt /

noun

  1. a fast flow, rush, or outpouring

    a spate of words

  2. a sudden flood

    the rivers were in spate

  3. a sudden heavy downpour

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of spate

1400–50; late Middle English (north) < ?

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The recent spate of higher international oil prices are also expected to reaccelerate inflation and further weigh on consumers.

From Barron's

Amazon has suffered a spate of outages, some of them lasting hours, since it began entrusting more software coding responsibilities to AI bots while laying off human engineers, according to the Financial Times.

From Los Angeles Times

The proximity has prompted a spate of British media reports about security in the area and the potential for Iran to have monitored consular activities from close range.

From The Wall Street Journal

Those two categories of incidents were down in 2024 and 2025 compared with prior years, after a spate of alarming close calls at airports in Austin, Texas, New York and Boston in 2023.

From The Wall Street Journal

The destination weddings have tapered off since Covid, but the hotel is seeing a spate of destination proposals and destination vow renewals.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.