n.

1. A sudden flood, rush, or outpouring: “It issues a spate of words from the loudspeakers and the politicians” (Virginia Woolf).
2. Chiefly British.
   1. A flash flood.
   2. A freshet resulting from a downpour of rain or melting of snow.
   3. A sudden heavy fall of rain.

[Middle English.]

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noun

1. A sudden or rapid flowing outward: efflux, gush, outflow, outpour, outpouring. See move/halt.
2. Something suggestive of running water: current, drift, flood, flow, flux, rush, stream, surge, tide. See move/halt.
3. An abundant, usually overwhelming flow or fall, as of a river or rain: alluvion, cataclysm, cataract, deluge, downpour, flood, freshet, inundation, Niagara, overflow, torrent. See big/small/amount.

IN BRIEF: A sudden rush or flood.

There was a spate of angry letters delivered to the newspaper after the unpopular article ran.

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 3 meanings:

Meaning #1: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
  Synonyms: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, muckle, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, stack, tidy sum, wad, whole lot, whole slew

Meaning #2: a sudden forceful flow
  Synonyms: rush, surge, upsurge

Meaning #3: the occurrence of a water flow resulting from sudden rain or melting snow
  Synonym: freshet

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - voldsom strøm, flom, skylle, voldsomt regnskyl

idioms:

• in spate    ved at gå over sine bredder

Nederlands (Dutch)
vloed

Français (French)
n. - crue, (fig) avalanche, série de

idioms:

• in full spate    en pleine crue, en plein discours
• in spate    en crue

Deutsch (German)
n. - Flut

idioms:

• in full spate    (Fluß) führt Hochwasser, (fig)(Person) mit sehr viel Arbeit
• in spate    Hochwasser führend

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μεγάλη πλημμύρα, φούσκωμα ποταμού, νεροποντή, χείμαρρος (λόγων κ.λπ.), μεγάλη ποσότητα

idioms:

• in spate    πλημμυρισμένος, φουσκωμένος

Italiano (Italian)
inondazione, fiume

idioms:

• in spate    nonostante

Português (Portuguese)
n. - enchente (f), cheia (f), fluxo rápido (m)

idioms:

• in spate    em enchente

Русский (Russian)
наводнение, половодье, ливень, поток, приступ, вздуваться, лить (о дожде)

idioms:

• in spate    в разливе (река)

Español (Spanish)
n. - creciente, avalancha, torrente, racha, exceso, demasía

idioms:

• in full spate    (fig) totalmente crecido, (río) desbordado por una inundación inesperada
• in spate    estar crecido

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - översvämning av flod, högvatten, strö, skur

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
泛滥, 大雨, 洪水

idioms:

• in spate    猛涨

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 泛濫, 大雨, 洪水

idioms:

• in spate    猛漲

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 갑자기 쏟아져 나오기, 홍수, 호우

idioms:

• in spate    홍수가 져서, 범람하여

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 大量, 多数, 氾濫, 洪水, 異常増水, 大雨, 大水, 豪雨, 多量

idioms:

• in spate    氾濫して

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) فيضان, مقدار وافر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שטף, מספר רב, מבול‬

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