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Definition of contagious adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

contagious

adjective
 
/kənˈteɪdʒəs/
 
/kənˈteɪdʒəs/
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  1. a contagious disease spreads by close contact between people
    • Scarlet fever is highly contagious.
    • (figurative) His enthusiasm was contagious (= spread quickly to other people).
    • a contagious laugh
    • The new disease proved contagious.
    Topics Health problemsc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • become
    • prove
    • …
    adverb
    • highly
    • very
    See full entry
  2. [not usually before noun] if a person is contagious, they have a disease that can be spread by close contact with other people
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • become
    • prove
    • …
    adverb
    • highly
    • very
    See full entry
    3. compare infectious
    Word Originlate Middle English: from late Latin contagiosus, from contagio, from con- ‘together with’ + the base of tangere ‘to touch’.
See contagious in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee contagious in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
Check pronunciation: contagious

Nearby words

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