What does "infect" mean?
Infect: To taint with morbid matter or any pestilential or noxious substance or effluvium by which disease is produced; as, to infect a lancet; to infect an apartment.
Additional senses
- 2.To affect with infectious disease; to communicate infection to; as, infected with the plague. Them that were left alive being infected with this disease. Sir T. North.
- 3.To communicate to or affect with, as qualities or emotions, esp. bad qualities; to corrupt; to contaminate; to taint by the communication of anything noxious or pernicious. Cowper. Infected Ston's daughters with like heat. Milton.
- 4.(Law) To contaminate with illegality or to expo
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00