INFECTING Synonyms: 61 Similar and Opposite Words

infecting

verb

present participle of infect

as in poisoning

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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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 infecting But the 16 bacteria-infecting viruses described on August 6 in Science were no ordinary specimens. — Elie Dolgin, IEEE Spectrum, 13 Aug. 2026 Only the 2014–16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been larger and deadlier, infecting more than 28,600 people and killing 11,325 across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. — Nimi Princewill, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2026 The thick, blackish blood that leaks out of these dying animals pours into the ground, infecting it with spores. — Rj MacKenzie, Popular Science, 5 Aug. 2026 One consequence is that people suffering from Ebola must often wait at home until a bed becomes available, risking infecting others. — Emmet Livingstone, NPR, 23 July 2026 Legionnaires disease comes from live Legionella bacteria infecting a person's lungs. — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 21 July 2026 There is also evidence, both Moss and Saphire note, that measles kills immune system memory cells when infecting someone without vaccine-induced or natural immunity. — Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 July 2026 Hendra virus typically passes from bats to horses before occasionally infecting humans. — William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 These bloodborne bacteria can migrate to the heart, infecting and damaging the heart muscle and valves. — Mark Stibich, Verywell Health, 25 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for infecting

Verb

Trump is also poisoning the process at a moment when the system for casting votes in the United States really does need shoring up.

— Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
An unknown person has been poisoning mature pine trees at Burnt Cedar Beach in Incline Village since 2022, with 16 more trees targeted this July and August — a case some suspect involves a wealthy resident trying to improve their view of Lake Tahoe.

— Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 15 Aug. 2026

Definition of poisoning

Verb

The judge also said that Nine PBS must find a third party, such as a former OSS worker, who can help retrieve the data within 30 days and without sharing or corrupting data belonging to other OSS clients.

— Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 14 Aug. 2026
Validation rules, schema standards and completeness checks at the entry point prevent bad master data from corrupting everything downstream.

— Jacqueline DeStefano-Tangorra, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of corrupting

Verb

Once the gold is separated, the mercury is released into the rivers, contaminating water sources and fish essential to Indigenous life.

— Gabriela Sa Pessoa, Fortune, 24 July 2026
This methane could collect in the same cold pockets where ice and ancient molecules have been collected for billions of years, possibly contaminating this finite, scientific evidence.

— Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 14 July 2026

Definition of contaminating

Verb

Báez worked a full count in the fourth inning, fouling off a first-pitch changeup and taking another two pitches later for a ball.

— Andy Martinez, Chicago Tribune, 16 Aug. 2026
And Cronenworth, fouling off pitches against lefty Aaron Ashby, did well to stave off a strikeout before hitting a soft bounder to first baseman Jake Bauers.

— Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of fouling

Verb

Without spoiling what happens next, the mutants confront Trask, and Mystique assumes his identity to further their mission.

— Jordan Moreau, Variety, 13 Aug. 2026
Decades later, the government was still buying surplus cheese and storing it in vast underground caves in Missouri, Wisconsin, and Kansas, warehouses cool enough to hold the cheese for years without spoiling.

— Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of spoiling

Verb

For shopper Kori Farmer, The Grocery Spot helps stretch her budget while giving her access to fresh food close to home.

— Jamal Goss, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026
The crisis is giving new urgency to an energy problem that Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers were already confronting.

— Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of giving

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infected

infecting

infection

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“Infecting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infecting. Accessed 22 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of infecting

verb

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