as in to poison
to pass something harmful (such as a disease) to someone or something else
If you come to work when you're sick, you'll infect everyone in the office.
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Recent Examples of infect
Wen: People infected with all three forms develop common infectious symptoms including fever, headache, chills and weakness.
—
Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 18 July 2025
Healthy people infected with Salmonella can experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
—Alia Shoaib, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025
Swimmer's itch is a skin rash caused by an allergic reaction to microscopic parasites that infect some birds and mammals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
—Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 11 July 2025
Season 2 of The Last of Us finds Joel (Pedro Pascal) not only fending off humans infected with the Cordyceps virus, but other survivors seeking revenge on Joel for his past actions.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for infect
Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 18 July 2025
Healthy people infected with Salmonella can experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
—Alia Shoaib, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025
Swimmer's itch is a skin rash caused by an allergic reaction to microscopic parasites that infect some birds and mammals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
—Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 11 July 2025
Season 2 of The Last of Us finds Joel (Pedro Pascal) not only fending off humans infected with the Cordyceps virus, but other survivors seeking revenge on Joel for his past actions.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for infect
Recent Examples of Synonyms for infect
Verb
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The health secretary said vegetable oils, like canola and soybean, are poisoning Americans and driving the obesity epidemic.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
8 July 2025
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After a week of deliberation, the jury found Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with individual servings of Beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
7 July 2025
Verb
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Less clear is the cancer-causing potential of talc when it’s not contaminated.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
23 July 2025
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The material, which is not contaminated, is being redeposited in nearby bird sanctuaries and new islands formed within the lake system.—
Nolan McKendry,
The Washington Examiner,
20 July 2025
Verb
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Dodge won't spoil the surprise by confirming if the last one will be based on the Charger or the Challenger (or maybe both), but the evidence suggests the latter is more likely.—
Jack Fitzgerald,
Car and Driver,
13 Feb. 2023
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Farmers’ broiler chickens suffocate, and dairy products spoil.—
Monica Mark,
The Christian Science Monitor,
10 Feb. 2023
Verb
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The Toronto Raptors fouled 29.6 times per game in contests that were only 40 minutes long.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
25 July 2025
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The backstop got banged up over the weekend, taking foul tips to the body and to the mask while behind the plate, and fouled a pitch off of his foot on Sunday.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
20 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Infect.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infect. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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