Infection

//ɪnˈfɛkʃən// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act or process of infecting. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    (international law) illegality that taints or contaminates a ship or cargo rendering it liable to seizure wordnet
  3. 3
    An uncontrolled growth of harmful microorganisms in a host. countable, uncountable

    "An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic[…]real kidneys[…]. But they are nothing like as efficient, and can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three times a week for hours at a time."

  4. 4
    moral corruption or contamination wordnet
  5. 5
    A disease caused by such presence of a pathogen. countable, uncountable

    "As the previously used chemotherapeutic agents have only proved themselves to be spirochetostatic and not spirochetocidal, the patient is liable to a delayed infection which may not become manifest for years."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    the communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people wordnet
  2. 7
    A visible sign of such a disease, such as the suppuration of a wound. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted wordnet
  4. 9
    (medicine) the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms and their multiplication which can lead to tissue damage and disease wordnet
  5. 10
    (phonetics) the alteration of a speech sound under the influence of a neighboring sound wordnet
  6. 11
    the pathological state resulting from the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms wordnet

Etymology

From Old French infection, from Late Latin īnfectiō. Equivalent to infect + -ion.

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