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.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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
Medflies can ruin more than 250 kinds of produce by infecting them with maggots.
—
John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2025
Cutting back herbaceous and intersectional peonies in late fall keeps pests and diseases from overwintering in the dead foliage and stems and infecting the plant’s new growth when spring returns.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 6 Nov. 2025
But those remakes are about hive-mind monsters infecting and possessing humans, who valiantly resist but fail to eradicate the threat.
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025
Measles outbreaks are infecting more people this year than in any year since the early 1990s and have already killed three.
—Suhail Bhat, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
The researchers had shown in 2023 that parasitic scraps of DNA could spread within bacterial populations by hitching rides on the tails of infecting viruses.
—Elie Dolgin, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Sep. 2025
And infecting a living cow is harder, says Robert de Vries, a virologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who was also not involved in the study.
—Chris Simms, Scientific American, 25 Sep. 2025
As Rolling Stone pointed out in August, meme coins have come to represent the logic of meme culture infecting the real world.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2025
That’s the best way to keep the flies from infecting the fruits.
—Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Sep. 2025
John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2025
Cutting back herbaceous and intersectional peonies in late fall keeps pests and diseases from overwintering in the dead foliage and stems and infecting the plant’s new growth when spring returns.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 6 Nov. 2025
But those remakes are about hive-mind monsters infecting and possessing humans, who valiantly resist but fail to eradicate the threat.
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025
Measles outbreaks are infecting more people this year than in any year since the early 1990s and have already killed three.
—Suhail Bhat, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
The researchers had shown in 2023 that parasitic scraps of DNA could spread within bacterial populations by hitching rides on the tails of infecting viruses.
—Elie Dolgin, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Sep. 2025
And infecting a living cow is harder, says Robert de Vries, a virologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who was also not involved in the study.
—Chris Simms, Scientific American, 25 Sep. 2025
As Rolling Stone pointed out in August, meme coins have come to represent the logic of meme culture infecting the real world.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2025
That’s the best way to keep the flies from infecting the fruits.
—Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for infecting
Verb
-
In November 2024, an American citizen was among six tourists who died in Laos, where alcohol tainted with methanol was blamed for poisoning them.—
Jay Ganglani,
NBC news,
5 Nov. 2025
-
What about him specifically bothers you especially in terms of poisoning the youth?—
Jayson Buford,
Rolling Stone,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Elites stirred up a now familiar moral panic about commerce corrupting letters and mocked Grub Street even as its writers built the first modern freelance economy and mass-print culture.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
8 Nov. 2025
-
But the church also taught that the power of music could be corrupting.—
Vann R. Newkirk II,
The Atlantic,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The Food Packaging Forum keeps a research database on plastics contaminating food, including paper cups.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
5 Nov. 2025
-
State law prohibits coal from contaminating the state’s waters and imposes a $25,000 civil fine for each penalty.—
Ishani Desai,
Sacbee.com,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
On a booking after fouling Mbeumo in the first half, he was hooked again by Hurzeler in the second half.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
26 Oct. 2025
-
Well, except for fouling on plays that, a year ago, may have gone uncalled.—
Joseph Dycus,
Mercury News,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Wright, however, adds a coda that, without spoiling anything, introduces something extra to the zero-sum game.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
11 Nov. 2025
-
Pluribus crackles with terrific comic tension as Carol wakes up next to her dead partner, filled with grief yet spoiling for a fight.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
The Chinese leader then toured the vessel, including inspecting the mess hall and giving a trial press of the ship’s catapult button, according to CCTV.—
Brad Lendon,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
-
At Tesla’s annual meeting on Thursday, shareholders voted in favor of giving CEO Musk a gargantuan, record-shattering pay package that could give him stock worth $1 trillion after several years.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
7 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Infecting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infecting. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share