contagion

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con·ta·gion

(kən-tā′jən)

a. Disease transmission by direct or indirect contact.

b. A disease that is or may be transmitted by direct or indirect contact; a contagious disease.

c. The direct cause, such as a bacterium or virus, of a communicable disease.

2. Psychology The spread of a behavior pattern, attitude, or emotion from person to person or group to group through suggestion, propaganda, rumor, or imitation.

3. A harmful, corrupting influence: feared that violence on television was a contagion affecting young viewers.

4. The tendency to spread, as of a doctrine, influence, or emotional state.

[Middle English contagioun, from Latin contāgiō, contāgiōn-, from contingere, contāct-, to touch; see contact.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

contagion

(kənˈteɪdʒən)

1. (Pathology) the transmission of disease from one person to another by direct or indirect contact

2. (Pathology) a contagious disease

3. (Pathology) another name for contagium

4. a corrupting or harmful influence that tends to spread; pollutant

5. the spreading of an emotional or mental state among a number of people: the contagion of mirth.

[C14: from Latin contāgiō a touching, infection, from contingere; see contact]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

con•ta•gion

(kənˈteɪ dʒən)

n.

1. the communication of disease by direct or indirect contact.

2. a disease so communicated.

3. the medium by which a contagious disease is transmitted.

4. harmful or undesirable contact or influence.

5. the ready transmission or spread of an idea, emotion, etc.: the contagion of fear.

[1350–1400; Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin contāgiō contact, infection]

con•ta′gioned, adj.

con·ta·gion

(kən-tā′jən)

1. The transmission of disease resulting from contact between individuals: Lack of sanitary conditions may lead to widespread contagion.

2. A disease that is transmitted in this way: The flu is a common contagion of the winter months.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun	1.	contagion - any disease easily transmitted by contact contagious disease communicable disease - a disease that can be communicated from one person to another flu, grippe, influenza - an acute febrile highly contagious viral disease morbilli, rubeola - an acute and highly contagious viral disease marked by distinct red spots followed by a rash; occurs primarily in children diphtheria - acute contagious infection caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae; marked by the formation of a false membrane in the throat and other air passages causing difficulty in breathing scarlatina, scarlet fever - an acute communicable disease (usually in children) characterized by fever and a red rash pox - a contagious disease characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pock marks trench mouth, Vincent's angina, Vincent's infection - an acute communicable infection of the respiratory tract and mouth marked by ulceration of the mucous membrane sexually transmitted disease, social disease, STD, VD, venereal disease, venereal infection, Venus's curse, Cupid's disease, Cupid's itch, dose - a communicable infection transmitted by sexual intercourse or genital contact
	2.	contagion - an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted infection, transmission incident - a single distinct event
	3.	contagion - the communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people; "a contagion of mirth"; "the infection of his enthusiasm for poetry" infection communication - something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups

contagion

noun

1. contamination, infection, corruption, pollution, taint They have been reluctant to admit AIDS patients because of unfounded fears of contagion.

2. spread, spreading, communication, passage, proliferation, diffusion, transference, dissemination, dispersal, transmittal He continues to isolate his country from the contagion of foreign ideas.

Related words
fear misophobia

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

contagion

noun

Anything that is injurious, destructive, or fatal:

bane, canker, poison, toxin, venom, virus.

Translations

عَدوى بِالمُلامَسَه

nákazanakažlivá choroba

smitte

Ansteckung

contagio

tartunta

contagion

fertőzésragály

smitun

besmetting

smitte

bulaşmageçmesalgın

传染

contagion

[kənˈteɪdʒən] N → contagio m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

contagion

[kənˈteɪdʒ^ən] n

(= spread of disease) → contagion f

(pejorative) (= harmful influence) [ideas, attitudes] → contagion f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

contagion

n (= contact) → Ansteckung f; (= disease) → Ansteckungskrankheit f; (= epidemic) → Seuche f (also fig); (fig: = spreading influence) → schädlicher Einfluss

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

contagion

[kənˈteɪdʒ/ən] n (Med) (frm) → contagio

contagious

(kənˈteidʒəs) adjective

spreading from one person to another by physical contact. Is that skin disease contagious?

conˈtagion noun

an infection.

con·ta·gion

n. contagio, transmisión de una enfermedad por contacto.

References in classic literature ?

"Contagion is the better and more technical word, Doc.," Walter Merritt Emory soothed with the sting of superior knowledge.

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A curious contagion of whispering was upon it, and also, when it gathered together at the fountain in the dark, another curious contagion of looking expectantly at the sky in one direction only.

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There remained no room for doubt that the contagion had lurked in that gorgeous mantle, which threw so strange a grace around her at the festival.

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As he watches the spasmodic shoots and darts that break out of her face and limbs, like fitful lightning out of a dark sky, some contagion in them seizes upon him: insomuch that he has to withdraw himself to a lean arm-chair by the hearth--placed there, perhaps, for such emergencies--and to sit in it, holding tight, until he has got the better of this unclean spirit of imitation.

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Friends and relatives, when they met one another in the streets, would hurry onward without a grasp of the hand or scarcely a word of greeting, lest they should catch or communicate the contagion; and often a coffin was borne hastily along.

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These are the men of whom Solomon says, 'They go like an ox to the slaughter, till a dart strikes through their liver'; an admirable description, by the way, of the foul disease, which is a poisonous deadly contagion mingling with the blood, whose centre or foundation is in the liver; from whence, by the swift circulation of the whole mass, that dreadful nauseous plague strikes immediately through his liver, and his spirits are infected, his vitals stabbed through as with a dart.

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And as to those mortal feuds which, in certain conjunctures, spread a conflagration through a whole nation, or through a very large proportion of it, proceeding either from weighty causes of discontent given by the government or from the contagion of some violent popular paroxysm, they do not fall within any ordinary rules of calculation.

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He obtained the weapon, and put it ready to my hand on the table; then went out, leaving a restless contagion in the air.

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From the furthest east to the furthest west the cries spread as if by contagion, accompanied in some cases by the barking of a dog.

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Time and again the guarding line was drawn back twenty or thirty miles to escape the contagion of the multitudinous dead.

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People turned their heads to look at her, and more than one lent an attentive car to her utterances, hoping thereby to secure the elusive but ever-desired "tip." Arobin caught the contagion of excitement which drew him to Edna like a magnet.

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I was a little depressed at first with the contagion of my wife's fears, but very soon my thoughts reverted to the Martians.