inflation has 8 distinct synonyms spread across 2 of its 4 senses. Each sense below keeps its own list, because a synonym belongs to a meaning and not to a word: swapping one sense's substitute into another sense's sentence is how a thesaurus makes writing worse. Its 2 recorded opposites are deflation, disinflation.
Counts are distinct word forms across every sense. A synonym that appears under three senses is counted once here and shown three times below, under each sense it belongs to.
a general and progressive increase in prices
“in inflation everything gets more valuable except money”
(cosmology) a brief exponential expansion of the universe (faster than the speed of light) postulated to have occurred shortly after the big bang
lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity
Synonyms, antonyms and the broader and narrower relations for inflation come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Full sources and licences.