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Webster 1913 Edition

Infection

In-fec′tion

,
Noun.
[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; the condition of suffering from an infectious disease; 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)
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.
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
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Infection

INFEC'TION

,
Noun.
[L. inficio.] The act of infecting, or the act by which poisonous matter, morbid miasmata or exhalations produce disease in a healthy body. The words contagion and infection are frequently confounded. The proper distinction between them is this. Contagion is the virus or effluvium generated in a diseased body, and capable of producing the specific disease in a healthy body by contact or otherwise. Marsh miasm is not properly contagion. Infection is any thing that taints or corrupts; hence it includes contagion, and any other morbid, noxious matter which may excite disease in a healthy body. Hence,
1.
The morbid cause which excites disease in a healthy or uninfected body. This cause may be contagion from a diseased body, or other poisonous or noxious matter received into the body or under the skin. The infection of the plague and of yellow fever, is said to be imported in ships and conveyed in clothing; persons are said to take the infection from a diseased person, or from the air of apartments where the sick are confined. The infection spreads in a city, or it is free from infection. Pestilential exhalations are called infections.
Infection is used in two acceptations; first, as denoting the effluvium or infectious matter exhaled from the person of one diseased, in which sense it is synonymous with contagion; and secondly, as signifying the act of communication of such morbid effluvium, by which disease is transferred.
2.
That which taints, poisons or corrupts by communication from one to another; as the infection of error or of evil example.
3.
Contamination by illegality, as in cases of contraband goods.
4.
Communication of like qualities.
Mankind are gay or serious by infection.

Definition 2024

infection

infection

English

Noun

infection ‎(plural infections)

  1. (pathology) The act or process of infecting.
  2. An uncontrolled growth of harmful microorganisms in a host.
    • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
      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.

Related terms

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From Old French infection, from Late Latin *infectiō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛ̃.fɛk.sjɔ̃/

Noun

infection f ‎(plural infections)

  1. (pathology) infection

Interlingua

Noun

infection ‎(plural infectiones)

  1. (pathology) The act or process of infecting.

Old French

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin *infectiō.

Noun

infection f ‎(oblique plural infections, nominative singular infection, nominative plural infections)

  1. (countable) infection.
    • 1303, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine), page 172 of this essay:
      la infection va tantost par tout le corps
      the infection travels around the whole body

Etymology

From Old French infection, from Late Latin *infectiō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/
  • Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

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