infection

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in international law, an illegality that taints or contaminates a ship or cargo rendering it liable to seizure

   The incoming boat had an infection, so the customs agents had it quarantined.

2. 2
   noun

   moral corruption or contamination

   ambitious men are led astray by an infection that is almost unavoidable

3. 3
   noun

   An uncontrolled growth of harmful microorganisms in a host.

   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
   noun

   A disease caused by such presence of a pathogen.

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   the communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people

6. 6
   noun

   an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted

7. 7
   noun

   (medicine) the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms and their multiplication which can lead to tissue damage and disease

8. 8
   noun

   (phonetics) the alteration of a speech sound under the influence of a neighboring sound

Etymology

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