An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. General: The act of inflating; the state of being inflated.
   

2. Cosmology: A brief exponential expansion of the Universe postulated to have occurred 10^-35 seconds after the → Big Bang, in response to the separation of the → strong interaction from the → electroweak interaction. This idea aims at explaining the → flatness problem, the → horizon problem, and the → magnetic monopole problem. See also → inflaton field.

See also: Verbal noun of → inflate.