infection: Meaning and Definition of
in•fec•tion
Pronunciation: (in-fek'shun), [key] — n.
- an act or fact of infecting; state of being infected.
- an infecting with germs of disease, as through the medium of infected insects, air, water, or clothing.
- an infecting agency or influence.
- an infectious disease: Is this infection very dangerous?
- the condition of suffering an infection.
- corruption of another's opinions, beliefs, moral principles, etc.; moral contamination.
- an influence or impulse passing from one to another and affecting feeling or action.
- (in Celtic languages) assimilation in which a vowel is influenced by a following vowel or semivowel; umlaut.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.