inflation

noun4

1. •
   An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas or liquid.

   • The inflation of the balloon took five hours.
2. •
   An increase in the quantity of money, leading to a devaluation of existing money, adjusted for by way of higher nominal values.

   • Due to inflation, the monthly gym fee is rising by 10% from January.
3. •
   Undue expansion or increase, as of academic grades.
4. •
   An extremely rapid expansion of the universe, theorized to have occurred very shortly after the Big Bang.