infectious
communicable by infection, as from one person to another or from one part of the body to another: infectious diseases.
causing or communicating infection.
tending to spread from one to another: infectious laughter.
Law. capable of contaminating with illegality; exposing to seizure or forfeiture.
Obsolete. diseased.
Origin of infectious
1synonym study For infectious
Other words for infectious
Other words from infectious
- in·fec·tious·ly, adverb
- in·fec·tious·ness, noun
- non·in·fec·tious, adjective
- non·in·fec·tious·ly, adverb
- non·in·fec·tious·ness, noun
- un·in·fec·tious, adjective
- un·in·fec·tious·ly, adverb
- un·in·fec·tious·ness, noun
Words that may be confused with infectious
- contagious, infectious (see synonym study at contagious)
Words Nearby infectious
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use infectious in a sentence
If you’re sleeping in a bed with them, sharing your home with them, and so on, you already have a decent risk of swapping the virus, or really any other infectious disease.
How to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a pandemic | Sara Kiley Watson | February 10, 2021 | Popular-ScienceMonica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor and a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, said the focus on transmission in the context of Covid-19 vaccines can be misleading when comparing them to other vaccines.
Covid-19 vaccines are great — but you still need to wear a mask for now | Umair Irfan | February 9, 2021 | VoxThat could pose a problem even for vaccinated adults, says Mobeen Rathore, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at the University of Florida College of Medicine.
As we learn how to address current and future pandemics, it is worth understanding what we learned from the great infectious disease fights of the past.
Smallpox used to kill millions of people every year. Here’s how humans beat it. | Kelsey Piper | February 5, 2021 | VoxThat’s especially true now as new, more infectious coronavirus variants await — putting us at risk of an even bigger surge than the one we saw during the holiday season if we ease up.
For most infectious, the amount is 100 or even 1,000 times that.
A Doctor Explains Why Cruise Ships Should Be Banned | Kent Sepkowitz | November 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAlthough bats may have creeped us out for centuries, their links to emerging infectious diseases are much more recent.
In Malaysia and Bangladesh, a devastating infectious neurological disease emerged just a few years after Hendra.
The only existing study, printed in the Journal of infectious Diseases in 1999, leaves scientists with the same questions.
Adam Lausing, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Michigan, emphasized that Ebola is not a respiratory disease.
The last movement had the infectious gayety that Mozart's things often have, with a magnificent cadenza by himself.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy FayThe infectious diseases in which leukocytosis is absent (p. 160) often cause a slight decrease of leukocytes.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd(b) Acute infectious diseases, especially rheumatism and typhoid fever.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddPredominance of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (pus-corpuscles) points to an acute infectious process (Fig. 117).
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddThe usual cause of acute infectious conjunctivitis, especially in cities, seems to be the Koch-Weeks bacillus.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
British Dictionary definitions for infectious
/ (ɪnˈfɛkʃəs) /
(of a disease) capable of being transmitted: Compare contagious
(of a disease) caused by microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, or protozoa
causing or transmitting infection
tending or apt to spread, as from one person to another: infectious mirth
international law
tainting or capable of tainting with illegality
rendering liable to seizure or forfeiture
Derived forms of infectious
- infectiously, adverb
- infectiousness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for infectious
[ ĭn-fĕk′shəs ]
Capable of causing infection. See Note at contagious.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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