infect

English

Etymology

From Middle French infect, from Latin infectus, perfect passive participle of inficiō (“dye, taint”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɛkt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Verb

infect (third-person singular simple present infects, present participle infecting, simple past and past participle infected)

1. (transitive) To bring (the body or part of it) into contact with a substance that causes illness (a pathogen), so that the pathogen begins to act on the body; (of a pathogen) to come into contact with (a body or body part) and begin to act on it.

   Not everyone will be infected when an epidemic strikes.

   • 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:

     Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.

   • 2020 February 18, Isabella Kwai, “How a Pharmacy Handles Mask Hoarders and Coronavirus Fears”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-02-18, Asia Pacific‎:

     Ms. Tang’s inevitable contact with people who are ill has started to worry her. It did not help when she learned that someone living in a building near her own, in Siu Sai Wan, had been infected by the virus.

2. (transitive) To contaminate (an object or substance) with a pathogen.
3. (transitive) To make somebody enthusiastic about one's own passion, or to communicate a feeling to others, or a feeling communicating itself to others.

   Her passion for dancing has infected me.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. , volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 164:

     Guido, by way of diverting the embarrassment which seemed to infect them all, began to unfasten the packet of letters.

Synonyms

• (to contaminate): leper (rare)

Antonyms

• disinfect

Derived terms

• infection
• infectible
• infectome

Related terms

• infectious

Translations

Adjective

infect (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Infected.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], line 187:

     And in the imitation of these twain, / Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns / With an imperial voice, many are infect.

Anagrams

• netfic

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnfectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.fɛkt/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

infect (feminine infecte, masculine plural infects, feminine plural infectes)

1. vile, loathsome
2. revolting, disgusting

Synonyms

• répugnant, dégueulasse, immonde

Descendants

• → Romanian: infect

Further reading

• “infect”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French infect, from Latin infectus.

Adjective

infect m or n (feminine singular infectă, masculine plural infecți, feminine and neuter plural infecte)

1. revolting, disgusting (about smells)
2. vile, loathsome (about humans)

Declension