INFECTIOUS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Infectious

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/ɪnfˈɛkʃəs/ Listen

adjective

Infectious adj.

Having qualities that may infect; communicable or caused by infection; pestilential; epidemic; as, an infectious fever; infectious clothing; infectious water; infectious vices. "Where the infectious pestilence."

Corrupting, or tending to corrupt or contaminate; vitiating; demoralizing. "It (the court) is necessary for the polishing of manners... but it is infectious even to the best morals to live always in it."

(Law) Contaminating with illegality; exposing to seizure and forfeiture. "Contraband articles are said to be of an infectious nature."

Capable of being easily diffused or spread; sympathetic; readily communicated; as, infectious mirth. "The laughter was so genuine as to be infectious."

Synonyms: See Contagious.

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Etymology of 'Infectious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Infectious" Quotes from Famous Books

... had, one or other of these diseases. When it is remembered that these diseases are not merely temporary incidents, but that they may be regarded as practically incurable in the vast majority, because of antagonistic social conditions and ignorance, and that they are highly infectious, we may begin to realize how important they are from the ...

— The Eugenic Marriage, Vol 2 (of 4) - A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies • W. Grant Hague

... lost enough to her surroundings, her hair unconquerably golden through the coarse veil; her dancing eyes clear and dark as a peat pool—she was the prettiest sight. One could only think of a young apple-tree with the spring sun on its blossom. She had that kind of infectious brightness which comes from very simple goodness. It was quite a relief to have taken a fancy to the young man's face, and to feel that she was passing into ...

— Tatterdemalion • John Galsworthy

... fatigue and privation. On the arrival of the troops at Mayence no preparation had been made for receiving them: there were no provisions, or supplies of any kind; and, as the climax of misfortune, infectious epidemics broke out amongst the men. All the accounts I received concurred in assuring me that ...

— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

... Her infectious smile came back. "He was playing seismograph. He was simply checking the intensity of the vibrations at different points in the ship. That gave him part of the data he needed to tell you which of the tubes were ...

— Unwise Child • Gordon Randall Garrett

... depreciate, the burden of taxation to grow intolerable, bad laws to find their way into the statute-books, interest in education and industry to decline, the farm Negroes to grow idle and gravitate to the infectious skirts of large cities, and the whole South went from ...

— History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2) - Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens • George Washington Williams

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