Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Infectious

In·fec′tious (·shŭs), a. [Cf. F. infectieux.]

1. Having qualities that may infect; communicable or caused by infection; pestilential; epidemic; as, an infectious fever; infectious clothing; infectious air; infectious vices.

Where the infectious pestilence. Shak.

2. Corrupting, or tending to corrupt or contaminate; vitiating; demoralizing.

It [the court] is necessary for the polishing of manners . . . but it is infectious even to the best morals to live always in it. Dryden.

3. (Law) Contaminating with illegality; exposing to seizure and forfeiture.

Contraband articles are said to be of an infectious nature. Kent.

4. Capable of being easily diffused or spread; sympathetic; readily communicated; as, infectious mirth.

The laughter was so genuine as to be infectious. W. Black.

Syn. — See Contagious.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.