contagious
capable of being transmitted by bodily contact with an infected person or object: contagious diseases.
carrying or spreading a contagious disease.
tending to spread from person to person: contagious laughter.
Origin of contagious
1synonym study For contagious
Other words from contagious
- con·ta·gious·ly, adverb
- con·ta·gious·ness, con·ta·gi·os·i·ty [kuhn-tey-jee-os-i-tee], /kənˌteɪ dʒiˈɒs ɪ ti/, noun
- an·ti·con·ta·gious, adjective
- an·ti·con·ta·gious·ly, adverb
- an·ti·con·ta·gious·ness, noun
- non·con·ta·gious, adjective
- non·con·ta·gious·ly, adverb
- non·con·ta·gious·ness, noun
- un·con·ta·gious, adjective
- un·con·ta·gious·ly, adverb
Words that may be confused with contagious
- contagious , infectious (see synonym study at the current entry)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use contagious in a sentence
The last several years have been terrible for measles, the highly contagious — and vaccine-preventable — childhood disease.
2019 was a terrible year for measles. 2021 could be much worse. | Julia Belluz | November 12, 2020 | VoxFrom surprise pregnancy announcements on Instagram to glam photo shoots starring their gorgeous baby bumps, these celebrity moms’ pregnancy glow was contagious in 2020.
These Celebrity Women Were Pregnant and Glowing In 2020 | Charli Penn | October 9, 2020 | Essence.comWhat’s more, Woloshin said, the tests only tell you if you have the virus — not whether or when you are contagious.
Take Negative COVID-19 Tests Seriously, But Not Literally | Maggie Koerth (maggie.koerth-baker@fivethirtyeight.com) | October 7, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightAn anti-chytrid microbe so acquired could be like a vaccine that’s contagious.
When Evolution Is Infectious - Issue 90: Something Green | Moises Velasquez-Manoff | September 30, 2020 | NautilusIts earliest origins, which probably date back to 16th-century China or possibly slightly later in India, involve the use of contagious fluids from smallpox victims to protect from future infection.
Pig sex and celery have a surprising connection | PopSci Staff | September 30, 2020 | Popular-Science
Mead most satisfactorily combats the opinions of the French physicians who maintained the non-contagiousness of the Plague.
In recent years the fact of its exhibiting a family tendency has been thought as much suggestive of contagiousness as of heredity.
Essentials of Diseases of the Skin | Henry Weightman StelwagonThe contagiousness of whooping cough continues about two months, or ceases before that time with the cessation of the cough.
Medical opinion in 1833 was decidedly adverse to the contagiousness of influenza.
A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume II (of 2) | Charles CreightonNow that we know its contagiousness, however, it is comparatively easy to explain its occurrence in families.
Psychotherapy | James J. Walsh
British Dictionary definitions for contagious
/ (kənˈteɪdʒəs) /
(of a disease) capable of being passed on by direct contact with a diseased individual or by handling clothing, etc, contaminated with the causative agent: Compare infectious
(of an organism) harbouring or spreading the causative agent of a transmissible disease
causing or likely to cause the same reaction or emotion in several people; catching; infectious: her laughter was contagious
Derived forms of contagious
- contagiously, adverb
- contagiousness, 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 contagious
[ kən-tā′jəs ]
Capable of being transmitted by direct or indirect contact, as an infectious disease.
Bearing contagion, as a person or animal with an infectious disease that is contagious.
usage For contagious
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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