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contagious

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contagious


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Contagious  \Con*ta"gious\,  a.  [L.  contagiosus:  cf  F. 
  contagieux.] 
  1.  (Med.)  Communicable  by  contact  by  a  virus,  or  by  a  bodily 
  exhalation;  catching;  as  a  contagious  disease. 
 
  2.  Conveying  or  generating  disease;  pestilential;  poisonous; 
  as  contagious  air. 
 
  3.  Spreading  or  communicable  from  one  to  another;  exciting 
  similar  emotions  or  conduct  in  others 
 
  His  genius  rendered  his  courage  more  contagious. 
  --Wirt. 
 
  The  spirit  of  imitation  is  contagious.  --Ames. 
 
  Syn:  {Contagious},  {Infectious}. 
 
  Usage:  These  words  have  been  used  in  very  diverse  senses 
  but  in  general,  a  contagious  disease  has  been 
  considered  as  one  which  is  caught  from  another  by 
  contact  by  the  breath,  by  bodily  effluvia,  etc.; 
  while  an  infectious  disease  supposes  some  entirely 
  different  cause  acting  by  a  hidden  influence,  like  the 
  miasma  of  prison  ships,  of  marshes,  etc.,  infecting 
  the  system  with  disease.  ``This  distinction,  though 
  not  universally  admitted  by  medical  men,  as  to  the 
  literal  meaning  of  the  words  certainly  applies  to 
  them  in  their  figurative  use  Thus  we  speak  of  the 
  contagious  influence  of  evil  associates;  their 
  contagion  of  bad  example,  the  contagion  of  fear,  etc., 
  when  we  refer  to  transmission  by  proximity  or  contact 
  On  the  other  hand,  we  speak  of  infection  by  bad 
  principles,  etc.,  when  we  consider  anything  as 
  diffused  by  some  hidden  influence. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  contagious 
  adj  1:  easily  diffused  or  spread  as  from  one  person  to  another;  "a 
  contagious  grin" 
  2:  (of  disease)  capable  of  being  transmitted  by  infection  [syn: 
  {catching},  {communicable},  {contractable},  {transmissible}, 
  {transmittable}] 




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