infection (n.)

late 14c., "infectious disease; contaminated condition;" from Old French infeccion "contamination, poisoning" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin infectionem (nominative infectio) "infection, contagion," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin inficere "to spoil, to stain" (see infect). Meaning "communication of disease by agency of air or water" (distinguished from contagion, which is body-to-body communication), is from 1540s.

Entries linking to infection

infect (v.)

late 14c., "fill with disease, render pestilential; pollute, contaminate; to corrupt morally," from Latin infectus, past participle of inficere "to stain, tinge, dye," also "to corrupt, stain, spoil," literally "to put in to, dip into," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + facere "to make, do, perform" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). In Middle English occasionally in a neutral sense "tinge, darken," but typically used of things indifferent or bad, and especially of disease. Related: Infected; infecting.

infectious (adj.)

"catching, having the quality of spreading from person to person, communicable by infection," 1540s of diseases, 1610s of emotions, actions, etc.; see infection + -ous. Earlier in the same sense were infectuous (late 15c.), infective (late 14c.). Related: Infectiously; infectiousness.

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Definitions of infection

infection (n.)

the pathological state resulting from the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms;

infection (n.)

(phonetics) the alteration of a speech sound under the influence of a neighboring sound;

infection (n.)

(medicine) the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms and their multiplication which can lead to tissue damage and disease;

infection (n.)

an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted;

Synonyms: contagion / transmission

infection (n.)

the communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people;

the infection of his enthusiasm for poetry

Synonyms: contagion

infection (n.)

moral corruption or contamination;

ambitious men are led astray by an infection that is almost unavoidable

infection (n.)

(international law) illegality that taints or contaminates a ship or cargo rendering it liable to seizure;

From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near infection

infatuate

infatuation

infeasibility

infeasible

infect

infection

infectious

infective

infecund

infelicitous

infelicity