transmissible
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- transmissibility noun
- untransmissible adjective
Etymology
Origin of transmissible
1635–45; < Latin trānsmiss ( us ) ( transmission ) + -ible
Explanation
Having a transmissible illness is a good excuse to stay home from school or work: it means that whatever bug you have spreads very easily to other people. The dangerous thing about viruses like polio, smallpox, Covid-19, and the flu is that they're extremely transmissible, spreading easily from person to person. Depending on the pathogen, this happens when a sick person sneezes, coughs, or touches a surface with germy fingers. The Latin root of transmissible is transmittere, "transfer or send across," from trans-, "across," and mittere, "to send or throw."
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.
The hepatitis B virus is highly transmissible and many people may not know they have it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025
Every time a bird flu virus infects a person, concerns grow that it could change, becoming more transmissible or more deadly.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2025
The National Trust spokeswoman added: "Decaying marine mammals pose a serious health risk. They can carry a range of diseases that are transmissible to humans and dogs."
From BBC • May 26, 2025
This process could generate a new variant that possesses the worst features of both—a virus that is transmissible from person-to-person like the seasonal flu, and severe, like those two concerning cases of D1.1.
From Slate • Dec. 31, 2024
Nor are the biologists quite satisfied with Spencer's reconciliation, between empiricism and apriorism, for, in the form he gave it, there is the tacit assumption that results of experience are as such transmissible.
From Herbert Spencer by Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur)
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.
