dispararse (subir bruscamente)
verbCEFR B2
What does “dispararse (subir bruscamente)” mean in English?
to soar, to spike sharply
to soar, to spike sharply (dispararse — sudden steep rise in prices, numbers, or rates)
Example sentences
Los precios de la vivienda se dispararon un cuarenta por ciento en solo dos años en las grandes capitales.
House prices soared by forty per cent in just two years in the major capitals.
La demanda de mascarillas se disparó en cuestión de horas tras el anuncio oficial.
Demand for masks soared within hours of the official announcement.
Si no se controla el déficit, la deuda pública podría dispararse hasta niveles insostenibles.
If the deficit is not controlled, public debt could soar to unsustainable levels.
How to use it
Dispararse (in the economic/statistical sense) means 'to soar', 'to spike', or 'to shoot up'. It implies sudden, sharp upward movement: los precios se dispararon (prices soared). The same verb means 'to fire a gun' or 'to go off' (la pistola se disparó), but at B2 the economic sense is the key one. The agent is always the thing that rises — prices, rates, costs, demand. The verb is reflexive in this sense. Contrast subir (gradual, neutral rise) and aumentar (increase, any pace).
Common mistake
Dispararse is always reflexive in the 'soar' sense: los precios se dispararon, NOT *los precios dispararon. The subject is the thing rising. Don't confuse with crecer (grow) or aumentar (increase) — dispararse implies a sudden, dramatic jump, not gradual growth.