Contagion
noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A disease spread by contact. countable, uncountable
- 2 the communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people wordnet
- 3 The spread or transmission of such a disease. countable, uncountable
- 4 an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted wordnet
- 5 The spread of anything likened to a contagious disease.; The passing on of manners or behaviour through a closed community or household. broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable
"It is true, they were a good-natured and respectable set of servants, who had lived so long in their places that they might be said, by a happy contagion, to have caught kindly feelings from their superiors, and, having assisted in saving the lives of the young ladies, gave them an interest in their pleasures, and a real delight in seeing those fair young faces lighted up with joy."
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- 6 any disease easily transmitted by contact wordnet
- 7 The spread of anything likened to a contagious disease.; The spread of (initially small) shocks, which initially affect only a few financial institutions or a particular region of an economy, to other financial sectors and other countries whose economies were previously healthy. broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable
"And it was German procrastination that aggravated the Greek crisis and caused the contagion that turned it into an existential crisis for Europe."
- 8 A recession or crisis developed in such manner. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English court on Friday last ... it is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs and close compressure on the bodies in their dance, to see that it is indeed far removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion."
Etymology
From Middle English (late 14th century), from Old French, from Latin contāgiō (“a touching, contact, contagion”) related to contingō (“touch closely”).
Related phrases
More for "contagion"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.