Depends how you define ‘inflation’. If you think it’s rising prices then changes in supply and/or demand can change it without money printing. If you think it’s CPI then it can be changed on a whim of a government bureaucrat.  If you think it’s ’inflation of the money supply’ then it can only be changed by money printing. 

 You’re right, Inflation has always generally been the increase in the prices of goods and services of an economy… if we add an adjective, we're talking about something more specific 

 Yes it can be an argument over definitions. Taking your description as a general increase in prices, if bitcoin is increasing in purchasing power faster than prices I’d call that a fix or solution. 

 For a very short time 

 In the short term, price inflation can happen due to an increase in the velocity of money, which can happen based on crowd psychology.

But in the long term, in a free market society not at war (at least), prices go down in real terms not up. Because we get better, faster, cheaper, more industrialized, greater efficiency, etc.

Another exception that just came to mind is scarcity.  Some things get more and more scarce and those will go up in value.  Real estate, rare minerals, etc, go up in price due to supply constraints.

But the primary reason that prices go up in the long term is monetary inflation. 

 That's why I say it helps a lot, but prices depend mainly on supply and demand… there are many more things involved, as you say 

 I'd like to add that the monetary inflation is intentional.  It is not *just* profligate government spending out of borrowing.  It is also from a belief that currency *should* go down in value in order to incentivize people to spend their money faster, which drives an economy to grow faster than it would have otherwise. 

 Concur this is one of the justifications for maintaining inflation and government (via central bank) control of the money supply. 

A side effect is its economic distortion from normal in that it incentivizes consumption over savings. 

 I think when people are talking about currency, inflation is referring to monetary inflation, not balloon inflation or price inflation. It’s the context that matters. 

“Monetary Inflation is an increase in the money supply which generally results in price inflation.  This acts as a “hidden tax” on the consumers in that country and is the primary cause of price inflation.”

Bitcoin fixes that. 

 Can you expand upon balloon and price inflation for me please? 

 Balloon inflation: Blowing up a balloon with air.

Price Inflation: When demand and supply change affecting upward revision in prices of goods or services. For example, supply of corn and wheat is curtailed due to bad weather causing their prices to rise.