CONTAGIOUS DISEASE Synonyms: 77 Similar and Opposite Words

contagious disease

noun

as in infection

sickness that can be passed from one person, plant, or animal to another Parents are advised to vaccinate their children against contagious diseases.

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of contagious disease Six months into the year, 2026 is on track to set the record for the highest number of measles cases recorded in the United States since the highly contagious disease was eliminated from the country nearly three decades ago. — Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 8 June 2026 Screwworm is not a contagious disease that spreads from animal to animal. — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 4 June 2026 Those threats include measles — one of the world’s most contagious diseases — as well as respiratory viruses such as Covid-19 and influenza. — Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 4 June 2026 Eighteen Americans possibly exposed to the virus are undergoing a six-week-long quarantine — much lengthier than the guidelines for most contagious diseases. — Ashley Abramson, Washington Post, 23 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for contagious disease

Recent Examples of Synonyms for contagious disease

Noun

Taylor’s research on didymo blooms in Colorado has led him to believe that the growth is triggered by a combination of environmental conditions and, potentially, infection by another microorganism.

— Hannah Smith July 25, Idaho Statesman, 25 July 2026
This growth can be triggered by stress factors such as environmental injury, insect feeding damage, or infections from fungal or bacterial pathogens.

— Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 25 July 2026

Definition of infection

Noun

Most, though not all, virus experts think the best evidence indicates the virus jumped from bats to other animals, and then to humans at a Wuhan market.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 22 July 2026
When a fetus is identified as having the high-risk gene mutation, a harmless virus carrying a healthy copy of the encoding gene is injected directly into the umbilical vein.

— William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

Definition of virus

Noun

DeepMind’s AlphaFold, for example, has used to AI to make available new structures for more than 200 million proteins, opening new pathways for research into disease and medicine.

— Belonging Forum, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
The lab got its start with studies of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the 1900s, when ranchers and cattle were dying from the then-unknown disease.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 22 July 2026

Definition of disease

Noun

After her diagnosis, her doctor taught her about the illness and what to expect during treatment.

— Durrie Bouscaren, NPR, 25 July 2026
In the initial stages of infection, the pathogen would resemble a known illness—one vulnerable to standard vaccines or drug remedies.

— Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 25 July 2026

Definition of illness

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contagious

contagious disease

contagious diseases

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“Contagious disease.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contagious%20disease. Accessed 27 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of contagious disease

noun

Example Sentences

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