Infect

• POS: Adjective, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: in=fect

CIDE DICTIONARY

Infect, a. [L. infectus: cf. F. infect. See Infect, v. t.].

 Infected. Cf. Enfect.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

Infect, v. t. [L. infectus, p. p. of inficere to put or dip into, to stain, infect; pref. in- in + facere to make; cf. F. infecter. See Fact.].

•  To taint with morbid matter or any pestilential or noxious substance or effluvium by which disease is produced; as, to infect a lancet; to infect an apartment.  [1913 Webster]
•  To affect with infectious disease; to communicate infection to; as, infected with the plague.  [1913 Webster]

  "Them that were left alive being infected with this disease."  [1913 Webster]
•  To communicate to or affect with, as qualities or emotions, esp. bad qualities; to corrupt; to contaminate; to taint by the communication of anything noxious or pernicious.  Cowper.  [1913 Webster]

  "Infected Ston's daughters with like heat."  [1913 Webster]
•  To contaminate with illegality or to expose to penalty.

Syn. -- To poison; vitiate; pollute; defile.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Infect, v.tr.
1 contaminate (air, water, etc.) with harmful organisms or noxious matter.
2 affect (a person) with disease etc.
3 instil bad feeling or opinion into (a person).

Derivative

infector n.

Etymology

ME f. L inficere infect- taint (as IN-(2), facere make)

THESAURUS

Infect

abuse, activate, adulterate, afflict, aggrieve, alloy, animate, befoul, benasty, bewitch, blight, canker, charge, cheapen, coarsen, condemn, confound, contaminate, corrupt, crucify, curse, damage, debase, debauch, defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, denature, deprave, desecrate, despoil, destroy, devalue, disadvantage, disease, disserve, distort, distress, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doom, embue, enliven, envenom, exhilarate, fire, foul, get into trouble, harass, harm, hex, hurt, imbue, impair, inform, infuse, inject, injure, inoculate, inspire, inspirit, irradiate, jinx, maltreat, menace, mess, mess up, mistreat, misuse, molest, nasty, outrage, persecute, pervert, play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, prejudice, prostitute, radiumize, ravage, ravish, savage, scathe, spirit, spirit up, sully, taint, tarnish, threaten, torment, torture, twist, ulcerate, violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, wound, wreak havoc on, wrong

ROGET THESAURUS

Infect

Deterioration

VB be worse, be deteriorated, become worse, become deteriorated Adj, have seen better days, deteriorate, degenerate, fall off, wane, ebb, retrograde, decline, droop, go down, go downhill, go from bad to worse, go farther and fare worse, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, run to seed, go to seed, run to waste swale, sweal, lapse, be the worse for, sphacelate: break, break down, spring a leak, crack, start, shrivel, fade, go off, wither, molder, rot, rankle, decay, go bad, go to decay, fall into decay, fall into the sear and yellow leaf, rust, crumble, shake, totter, totter to its fall, perish, die, deteriorate, weaken, put back, set back, taint, infect, contaminate, poison, empoison, envenom, canker, corrupt, exulcerate, pollute, vitiate, inquinate, debase, embase, denaturalize, denature, leaven, deflower, debauch, defile, deprave, degrade, ulcerate, stain, discolor, alloy, adulterate, sophisticate, tamper with, prejudice, pervert, prostitute, demoralize, brutalize, render vicious, embitter, acerbate, exacerbate, aggravate, injure, impair, labefy, damage, harm, hurt, shend, scath, scathe, spoil, mar, despoil, dilapidate, waste, overrun, ravage, pillage, wound, stab, pierce, maim, lame, surbate, cripple, hough, hamstring, hit between wind and water, scotch, mangle, mutilate, disfigure, blemish, deface, warp, blight, rot, corrode, erode, wear away, wear out, gnaw, gnaw at the root of, sap, mine, undermine, shake, sap the foundations of, break up, disorganize, dismantle, dismast, destroy, damnify, do one's worst, knock down, deal a blow to, play havoc with, play sad havoc with, play the mischief with, play the deuce with, play the very devil with, play havoc among, play sad havoc among, play the mischief among, play the deuce among, play the very devil among, decimate.

N deterioration, debasement, wane, ebb, recession, retrogradation, decrease, degeneracy, degeneration, degenerateness, degradation, depravation, depravement, devolution, depravity, demoralization, retrogression, masochism, impairment, inquination, injury, damage, loss, detriment, delaceration, outrage, havoc, inroad, ravage, scath, perversion, prostitution, vitiation, discoloration, oxidation, pollution, defoedation, poisoning, venenation, leaven, contamination, canker, corruption, adulteration, alloy, decline, declension, declination, decadence, decadency, falling off, caducity, decrepitude, decay, dilapidation, ravages of time, wear and tear, corrosion, erosion, moldiness, rottenness, moth and rust, dry rot, blight, marasmus, atrophy, collapse, disorganization, delabrement (destruction), aphid, Aphis, plant louse, puceron, vinefretter, vinegrub, wreck, mere wreck, honeycomb, magni nominis umbra, jade, plug, rackabones, skate, tackey, tacky, have seen better days, deteriorate, degenerate, fall off, wane, ebb, retrograde, decline, droop, go down, go downhill, go from bad to worse, go farther and fare worse, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, run to seed, go to seed, run to waste swale, sweal, lapse, be the worse for, sphacelate: break, break down, spring a leak, crack, start, shrivel, fade, go off, wither, molder, rot, rankle, decay, go bad, go to decay, fall into decay, fall into the sear and yellow leaf, rust, crumble, shake, totter, totter to its fall, perish, die, deteriorate, weaken, put back, set back, taint, infect, contaminate, poison, empoison, envenom, canker, corrupt, exulcerate, pollute, vitiate, inquinate, debase, embase, denaturalize, denature, leaven, deflower, debauch, defile, deprave, degrade, ulcerate, stain, discolor, alloy, adulterate, sophisticate, tamper with, prejudice, pervert, prostitute, demoralize, brutalize, render vicious, embitter, acerbate, exacerbate, aggravate, injure, impair, labefy, damage, harm, hurt, shend, scath, scathe, spoil, mar, despoil, dilapidate, waste, overrun, ravage, pillage, wound, stab, pierce, maim, lame, surbate, cripple, hough, hamstring, hit between wind and water, scotch, mangle, mutilate, disfigure, blemish, deface, warp, blight, rot, corrode, erode, wear away, wear out, gnaw, gnaw at the root of, sap, mine, undermine, shake, sap the foundations of, break up, disorganize, dismantle, dismast, destroy, damnify, do one's worst, knock down, deal a blow to, play havoc with, play sad havoc with, play the mischief with, play the deuce with, play the very devil with, play havoc among, play sad havoc among, play the mischief among, play the deuce among, play the very devil among, decimate, Adj, unimproved &c (improve), deteriorated, altered, altered for the worse, injured, sprung, withering, spoiling, on the wane, on the decline, tabid, degenerate, marescent, worse, the worse for, all the worse for, out of repair, out of tune, imperfect, the worse for wear, battered, weathered, weather-beaten, stale, passe, shaken, dilapidated, frayed, faded, wilted, shabby, secondhand, threadbare, worn, worn to a thread, worn to a shadow, worn to the stump, worn to rags, reduced, reduced to a skeleton, far gone, tacky, decayed, moth-eaten, worm-eaten, mildewed, rusty, moldy, spotted, seedy, time-worn, moss-grown, discolored, effete, wasted, crumbling, moldering, rotten, cankered, blighted, tainted, depraved, decrepid, decrepit, broke, busted, broken, out of commission, hors de combat, out of action, broken down, done, done for, done up, worn out, used up, finished, beyond saving, fit for the dust hole, fit for the wastepaper basket, past work, at a low ebb, in a bad way, on one's last legs, undermined, deciduous, nodding to its fall, tottering, past cure, fatigued, retrograde, deleterious, out of the frying pan into the fire, agrescit medendo, what a falling off was there!.

Mixture

VB mix, join, combine, commix, immix, intermix, mix up with, mingle, commingle, intermingle, bemingle, shuffle, pound together, hash up, stir up, knead, brew, impregnate with, interlard, intertwine, interweave, associate with, miscegenate, be mixed, get among, be entangled with, instill, imbue, infuse, suffuse, transfuse, infiltrate, dash, tinge, tincture, season, sprinkle, besprinkle, attemper, medicate, blend, cross, alloy, amalgamate, compound, adulterate, sophisticate, infect.

Excitation

VB excite, affect, touch, move, impress, strike, interest, animate, inspire, impassion, smite, infect, stir the blood, fire the blood, warm the blood, set astir, wake, awake, awaken, call forth, evoke, provoke, raise up, summon up, call up, wake up, blow up, get up, light up, raise, get up the steam, rouse, arouse, stir, fire, kindle, enkindle, apply the torch, set on fire, inflame, stimulate, exsuscitate, inspirit, spirit up, stir up, work up, pique, infuse life into, give new life to, bring new blood, introduce new blood, quicken, sharpen, whet, work upon, hurry on, give a fillip, put on one's mettle, fan the fire, fan the flame, blow the coals, stir the embers, fan into a flame, foster, heat, warm, foment, raise to a fever heat, keep up, keep the pot boiling, revive, rekindle, rake up, rip up, stir the feelings, play on the feelings, come home to the feelings, touch a string, touch a chord, touch the soul, touch the heart, go to one's heart, penetrate, pierce, go through one, touch to the quick, possess the soul, pervade the soul, penetrate the soul, imbrue the soul, absorb the soul, affect the soul, disturb the soul, absorb, rivet the attention, sink into the mind, sink into the heart, prey on the mind, distract, intoxicate, overwhelm, overpower, bouleverser, upset, turn one's head, fascinate, enrapture, agitate, perturb, ruffle, fluster, shake, disturb, startle, shock, stagger, give one a shock, give one a turn, strike all of a heap, stun, astound, electrify, galvanize, petrify, irritate, sting, cut to the heart, cut to the quick, try one's temper, fool to the top of one's bent, pique, infuriate, madden, make one's blood boil, lash into fury, be excited, flush up, flare up, catch the infection, thrill, mantle, work oneself up, seethe, boil, simmer, foam, fume, flame, rage, rave, run mad.