infectious.
Caused by an agent that enters the host's body (such as a bacterium, virus, parasite, or prion); often, also, transmitted among hosts via any of various routes (for example, contact, droplet-borne, airborne, waterborne, foodborne, fomite-borne, or bloodborne).
Meaning & usage
Caused by an agent that enters the host's body (such as a bacterium, virus, parasite, or prion); often, also, transmitted among hosts via any of various routes (for example, contact, droplet-borne, airborne, waterborne, foodborne, fomite-borne, or bloodborne).
Cancer is usually not infectious.
More infectious diseases like the flu are usually less potent.
Able to infect others; capable of transmitting pathogens.
Despite feeling better, the patient is still infectious.
Spreading quickly from one person to another.
infectious smile
Her enthusiasm for work can be really infectious.
Memorable and invoking excitement or interest.
Pop music is more infectious than elevator music.
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from New Latin īnfectiōsus. By surface analysis, infect + -ious.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.