CONTAGIOUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Contagious

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/kəntˈeɪdʒəs/ Listen

adjective

Contagious adj.

1.

(Med.) Communicable by contact, by a virus, or by a bodily exhalation; catching; as, a contagious disease.

2.

Conveying or generating disease; pestilential; poisonous; as, contagious air.

3.

Spreading or communicable from one to another; exciting similar emotions or conduct in others. "His genius rendered his courage more contagious." "The spirit of imitation is contagious."

Synonyms: Contagious, Infectious. Although often used as synonyms, originally these words were used in very diverse senses; but, in general, a contagious disease has been considered as one which is caught from another by some near contact, by the breath, by bodily effluvia, etc.; while an infectious disease supposed some entirely different cause acting by a hidden influence, like the miasma of prison ships, of marshes, etc., infecting the system with disease. In either case, a pathogenic microorganism is the direct cause of the disease. This distinction, though not universally admitted by medical men, as to the literal meaning of the words, certainly applies to them in their figurative use. Thus we speak of the contagious influence of evil associates; their contagion of bad example, the contagion of fear, etc., when we refer to transmission by proximity or contact. On the other hand, we speak of infection by bad principles, etc., when we consider anything as diffused by some hidden influence.

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Etymology of 'Contagious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contagious" Quotes from Famous Books

... the hotel. For the first time in her life I saw Amelia really nervous as I handed the stones to Charles to examine. Her doubt was contagious. I half feared, myself, he might break out into a deep monosyllabic interjection, losing his temper in haste, as he often does when things go wrong. But he looked at them with a smile, while ...

— An African Millionaire - Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay • Grant Allen

... old, to a boarding-school, in order to learn a little ingenuity and artifice. Then, sir, she should have a supercilious knowledge in accounts;—and as she grew up, I would have her instructed in geometry, that she might know something of the contagious countries;—but above all, Sir Anthony, she should be mistress of orthodoxy, that she might not mis-spell, and mis-pronounce words so shamefully as girls usually do; and likewise that she might reprehend the ...

— The Rivals - A Comedy • Richard Brinsley Sheridan

... said Benoix, quietly. "I've my parish to think of. The girl's a plague-spot. Vice is as contagious as any other disease. Besides, it 's a question of her own safety. She's been threatened. ...

— Kildares of Storm • Eleanor Mercein Kelly

... contagious. It had never previously occurred to me to undertake the game of exploration; but, like most American boys, I had had youthful dreams of going into a great wild country, even as my forefathers had ...

— The Lure of the Labrador Wild • Dillon Wallace

... is he who liveth near this wise man! Such sleep is contagious—even through a thick ...

— Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All and None • Friedrich Nietzsche

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