infective
Americanadjective
adjective
-
capable of causing infection
-
a less common word for infectious
Other Word Forms
- infectively adverb
- infectiveness noun
- infectivity noun
- uninfective adjective
Etymology
Origin of infective
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Medieval Latin word infectīvus. See infect, -ive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It is certainly not as infective as say flu or COVID-19, and requires often fairly prolonged close contact before transmission takes place," said Andrew Lee, Professor of Public Health at the University of Sheffield.
From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026
Dr Henney said that previous imaging and test results suggested "the infective endocarditis was not present during the first admission."
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2025
CJD is the most prominent of the handful of diseases, all fatal, that result when prions, proteins of uncertain function that are abundant in the brain, misfold into an infective form that spreads widely.
From Science Magazine • Mar. 21, 2024
The disease is rare, however, people with previous valve surgeries, heart valve abnormalities, artificial valves, congenital heart defects or previous infective endocarditis have a greater risk of developing it.
From Science Daily • Dec. 13, 2023
It is highly infective, lethally hot, a liquid that would scare the daylights out of a military biohazard specialist.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
