n. An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas.n. An increase in the general level of prices or in the cost of living.n. A decline in the value of money.n. An increase in the quantity of money, leading to a devaluation of existing money.n. Undue expansion or increase, as of academic grades.n. An extremely rapid expansion of the universe, theorised to have occurred very shortly after the big bang.