Meanings
comparative more infective · superlative most infective
- Able to cause infection; infectious
Hirsch has followed a group of 85 health care workers who were exposed to blood and bodily fluids of persons with AIDS. Thirty had been exposed by accidentally sticking themselves with needles containing blood and three had been spattered or had an open wound exposed to potentially infective blood.
1984 December 29, Christine Guilfoy, “Health Worker's AIDS Prompts Investigation”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 2
plural infectives
- epidemiologyA person who is capable of spreading a disease by infecting others.
It is evident that the greater the number of susceptibles, then the greater the increase in the number of infectives.
2002, Belinda Barnes, Glenn Fulford, Mathematical Modeling with Case Studies, →ISBN, page 140
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveable to cause disease
adjectivecaused by infection or capable of causing infection
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
German infektiös
- infektiösable to cause infection
Hungarian fertőző, ragályos
- fertőzőable to cause infection
- ragályosable to cause infection
Italian infettivo
- infettivoable to cause infection
Korean 감염성
- 감염성 (gamyeomseong)able to cause infection
Polish infekcyjny, zakaźny
- infekcyjnyable to cause infection
- zakaźnyable to cause infection
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with infective
Cite this entry
infective. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/infective
“infective.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/infective. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “infective,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/infective.
Source: infective on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.