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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Recent Examples of infecting Wardle found that a simple variation of ClickFix attack—a technique that has become remarkably effective in tricking people into infecting their devices—is all that’s required for an attacker to take control of a Muse account. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 21 Sep. 2026 That includes Memory Integrity protection, which uses hardware-dependent methods to prevent malware from infecting OS processes. — Chris Hoffman, PC Magazine, 9 Sep. 2026 In Vermont, federal researchers are hoping to save American elm trees by infecting young saplings with the fungal disease that has nearly exterminated the tall, once prevalent, East Coast trees. — Susanne Rust follow, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026 On the screen, the room glimpsed stitches from the emergency operations, the mold and pus infecting him, the brutal anti-glamour of a homicide victim. — Jeff Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 1 Sep. 2026 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for infecting

Verb

The court heard how the former nurse, now 36, attacked babies in her care by administering air into their blood and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them and poisoning them with insulin.

— Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 15 Sep. 2026
Former Titans scout Blaise Taylor received consecutive life sentences after his conviction for poisoning his pregnant girlfriend.

— Chris Branch, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of poisoning

Verb

How Monster Depicts the Borden Murders Their first attempt involves serving the couple oysters in May, when the series says the city of Fall River dumps its sewage over the oyster beds, contaminating the shellfish with potentially fatal bacteria.

— Chris Spargo, PEOPLE, 18 Sep. 2026
Of course, a yeast that can survive on Mars is … well, a yeast that can survive on Mars, which could actually risk contaminating the planet with hardy and fast-multiplying Earth microbes.

— Kiona N. Smith, Space.com, 17 Sep. 2026

Definition of contaminating

Verb

That’s 10 games against teams that don’t have much to play for, aside from spoiling Toronto’s season.

— Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Read on to learn about how long chicken broth lasts in the pantry and the fridge, signs of spoiling, how to freeze it, and how to make it.

— Jessica Farthing, Southern Living, 13 Sep. 2026

Definition of spoiling

Verb

And by engaging with these powerful militaries, the group reinforced its self-image as a major regional player that was uniquely capable of liberating the Muslim world from corrupting American and Israeli influence.

— April Longley Alley, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2026
Gadgets with screens of any size have long been allegedly melting, rotting, and/or corrupting the brains of youths for decades.

— Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of corrupting

Verb

Tucker picked up some extra bumps and bruises Saturday, most notably fouling a pitch off his right knee in the third inning.

— Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2026
Long is on Zoom, from her home in Los Angeles and seated at her kitchen counter with the sliding doors behind her, where a custodian is cleaning the deck that coyotes keep fouling.

— Clayton Davis, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026

Definition of fouling

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“Infecting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infecting. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of infecting

verb

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