infection

UK: /ɪnˈfɛkʃ^ən/ US: /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/ ,(in fek′shən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•fec•tion /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/   n. 

1. the state of being infected:
   [uncountable] If you leave that wound untreated, infection will result.
2. an infectious disease:
   [countable] an ear infection.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•fec•tion  (in fek′shən), n. 

1. an act or fact of infecting;
   state of being infected.
2. Pathology an infecting with germs of disease, as through the medium of infected insects, air, water, or clothing.
3. an infecting agency or influence.
4. Pathology an infectious disease:
   Is this infection very dangerous?
5. Pathology the condition of suffering an infection.
6. corruption of another's opinions, beliefs, moral principles, etc.;
   moral contamination.
7. an influence or impulse passing from one to another and affecting feeling or action.
8. Grammar (in Celtic languages) assimilation in which a vowel is influenced by a following vowel or semivowel;
   umlaut.

• Late Latin infectiōn- (stem of infectiō). See infect, -ion
• Middle English infeccio(u)n 1350–1400

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

infection / ɪnˈfɛkʃən/ noun

1. invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms
2. the resulting condition in the tissues
3. an infectious disease
4. the act of infecting or state of being infected
5. an agent or influence that infects
6. persuasion or corruption, as by ideas, perverse influences, etc