INFECT: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for INFECT?

Need another word that means the same as “infect”? Find 22 synonyms and 30 related words for “infect” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Infect” are: taint, pass infection to, transmit infection to, spread disease to, contaminate, pollute, make impure, foul, dirty, blight, spoil, mar, impair, damage, ruin, affect, have an effect on, influence, have an impact on, impact on, touch, take hold of

Infect as a Verb

Definitions of "Infect" as a verb

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “infect” as a verb can have the following definitions:

• (of a negative feeling or idea) take hold of or be communicated to (someone.
• Communicate a disease to.
• Corrupt with ideas or an ideology.
• Affect (a person, organism, etc.) with a disease-causing organism.
• Contaminate (air, water, etc.) with harmful organisms.
• Affect with a virus.
• Contaminate with a disease or microorganism.
• Affect in a contagious way.

Synonyms of "Infect" as a verb (22 Words)

affect	Act physically on; have an effect upon. Your attitude will affect how successful you are.
blight	Cause to suffer a blight. Too much rain may blight the garden with mold.
contaminate	Make (something) impure by exposure to or addition of a poisonous or polluting substance. Celebrity has contaminated every aspect of public life.
damage	Suffer or be susceptible to damage. She damaged the car when she hit the tree.
foul	Hit a foul ball. Make sure that your pet never fouls paths.
have an effect on	Serve oneself to, or consume regularly.
have an impact on	Have a personal or business relationship with someone.
impact on	Have an effect upon.
impair	Make imperfect. His vision was impaired.
influence	Shape or influence give direction to. The artist s work influenced the young painter.
make impure	Add up to.
mar	Impair the quality or appearance of; spoil. Violence marred a number of New Year celebrations.
pass infection to	Disappear gradually.
pollute	Contaminate (water, the air, etc.) with harmful or poisonous substances. The industrial wastes polluted the lake.
ruin	Fall into ruin. A noisy motorway has ruined village life.
spoil	Treat with great or excessive kindness, consideration, or generosity. The meat must be eaten before it spoils.
spread disease to	Move outward.
taint	Contaminate with a disease or microorganism. The air was tainted by fumes from the cars.
take hold of	Be capable of holding or containing.
touch	Produce feelings of affection, gratitude, or sympathy in. For a moment their fingers touched.
transmit infection to	Transmit or serve as the medium for transmission.

Usage Examples of "Infect" as a verb

• The panic in his voice infected her.
• Pregnant women who may have been infected with the virus.
• Viruses have infected computer networks.
• Your children have infected you with this head cold.
• The water was infected by cholera.
• Society was infected by racism.
• His laughter infects everyone who is in the same room.

Associations of "Infect" (30 Words)

canker	Become infected with a canker. Cut out lesions on branches caused by canker.
contagion	The communication of disease from one person or organism to another by close contact. A political fear a contagion that spread from city to city.
contagious	Capable of being transmitted by infection. A contagious grin.
encephalitis	Inflammation of the brain usually caused by a virus; symptoms include headache and neck pain and drowsiness and nausea and fever (`phrenitis’ is no longer in scientific use.
epidemic	Of the nature of an epidemic. An epidemic outbreak of influenza.
epizootic	An outbreak of an epizootic disease. Epizootic diseases in domestic livestock.
flu	Influenza. She was in bed with flu.
hepatitis	A disease characterized by inflammation of the liver.
hookworm	Infestation of the intestines by hookworms which enter the body usually through the skin.
infection	The communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people. A chest infection.
infectious	Liable to spread infection. Outbreaks of infectious diseases.
influenza	An acute febrile highly contagious viral disease.
malaria	An infective disease caused by sporozoan parasites that are transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito; marked by paroxysms of chills and fever.
measles	An acute and highly contagious viral disease marked by distinct red spots followed by a rash; occurs primarily in children. A severe case of the measles.
pandemic	An outbreak of a pandemic disease. A pandemic outbreak of malaria.
pathogen	Any disease-producing agent (especially a virus or bacterium or other microorganism.
pest	A serious sometimes fatal infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal. Many pests have developed resistance to the common pesticides.
pestilence	A fatal epidemic disease, especially bubonic plague. Neither prayers nor demonstrations halted the advance of the pestilence.
plague	A contagious bacterial disease characterized by fever and delirium typically with the formation of buboes bubonic plague and sometimes infection of the lungs pneumonic plague. A plague of locusts.
pox	Smallpox.
smallpox	An acute contagious viral disease, with fever and pustules that usually leave permanent scars. It was effectively eradicated through vaccination by 1979.
superbug	A strain of pest accidentally imported into Florida from the Middle East then spread to California where it is a very serious pest feeding on almost all vegetable crops and poinsettias.
taint	Something with a contaminating influence or effect. The rennet should be soaked in water containing sufficient salt to keep it from tainting.
transmissible	(of a disease or trait) able to be passed on from one person or organism to another. Transmissible tradition.
transmission	The mechanism by which power is transmitted from an engine to the axle in a motor vehicle. Transmission equipment.
tuberculosis	An infectious bacterial disease characterized by the growth of nodules (tubercles) in the tissues, especially the lungs.
tularemia	A highly infectious disease of rodents (especially rabbits and squirrels) and sometimes transmitted to humans by ticks or flies or by handling infected animals.
vaccine	A program designed to detect computer viruses and inactivate them. There is no vaccine against the virus.
viral	(of an image, video, piece of information, etc.) circulated rapidly and widely from one internet user to another. The video went viral and was seen by millions.
virus	An infection or disease caused by a virus. I ve had a virus.