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# infect

verb (infect, infects, infected, infecting)

«infect» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To give someone a disease by passing germs to them. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#m1)
2. For germs to get into a cut or part of the body and make it sore and ill. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#m2)
3. For a computer virus to get into a computer. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#m3)
4. To spread a feeling to others, as in «Her laughter infected everyone». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#m4)

### In the lessons

In science and health lessons: germs (bacteria and viruses) infect people; washing hands stops them spreading. In safety: clean a cut so it doesn't get infected. In computing: viruses can infect computers. Phrases: infected cut, infect with.

### Examples

- Wash your hands so you don't infect others. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#x1)
- Clean the cut so it doesn't get infected. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#x2)
- The virus infected half the class. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#x3)
- A computer virus infected Dad's laptop. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#x4)
- Her giggles infected the whole room. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#x5)
- Mosquitoes can infect people with malaria. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/#x6)

### Note

Regular verb. Noun: infection; adjective: infectious (can spread, catching). Not the same as «affect» (to change something) or «inject». In maths problems on spreading illness, one infected person may infect several others, so numbers can double quickly.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «infect» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/infect/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«infect» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/infect.html) on Mova free.