INFECTION

infection

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

infection

(noun) moral corruption or contamination; “ambitious men are led astray by an infection that is almost unavoidable”

contagion, infection

(noun) the communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people; “a contagion of mirth”; “the infection of his enthusiasm for poetry”

infection, contagion, transmission

(noun) an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted

infection

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

infection

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

infection

(noun) the pathological state resulting from the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

infection (countable and uncountable, plural infections)

(pathology) The act or process of infecting.

An uncontrolled growth of harmful microorganisms in a host.

Source: Wiktionary

In*fec"tion, n. Etym: [Cf. F. infection, L. infectio a dyeing.]

1. The act or process of infecting. There was a strict order against coming to those pits, and that was only to prevent infection. De Foe.

2. That which infects, or causes the communicated disease; any effluvium, miasm, or pestilential matter by which an infectious disease is caused. And that which was still worse, they that did thus break out spread the infection further by their wandering about with the distemper upon them. De Foe.

3. The state of being infected; contamination by morbific particles; the result of infecting influence; a prevailing disease; epidemic. The danger was really very great, the infection being so very violent in London. De Foe.

4. That which taints or corrupts morally; as, the infection of vicious principles. It was her chance to light Amidst the gross infections of those times. Daniel.

5. (Law)

Definition: Contamination by illegality, as in cases of contraband goods; implication.

6. Sympathetic communication of like qualities or emotions; influence. Through all her train the soft infection ran. Pope. Mankind are gay or serious by infection. Rambler.

Syn.

– Infection, Contagion.

– Infection is often used in a definite and limited sense of the transmission of affections without direct contact of individuals or immediate application or introduction of the morbific agent, in contradistinction to contagion, which then implies transmission by direct contact. Quain. See Contagious.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition