incubation period

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. the period between infection and the appearance of signs of a disease.

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incubation period British  

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: incubation.  med the time between exposure to an infectious disease and the appearance of the first signs or symptoms

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incubation period Cultural  

1. The amount of time it takes for symptoms of a disease to appear after an individual is infected (see infection) with the pathogen that causes the disease.

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Etymology

Origin of incubation period

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Incubation period from eleven days to thirteen months, average one hundred and twenty days, depending upon location of bite.

From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson

Incubation period of twelve days or less, marked at times by slight weary feeling.

From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson