contagious
adj.adj. describes a disease that spreads from one person to another by touch or through the air. It can also describe a feeling or action, like a laugh, that others start to copy.
adj. spreadable by direct or indirect contact between individuals. Often describes infectious diseases or, figuratively, the rapid transmission of emotions or behaviours within a group.
The flu is highly contagious, so stay home if you feel sick.
Health officials warned that the new strain of the virus is significantly more contagious than previous versions.
The speaker's enthusiasm proved contagious, quickly transforming a room of skeptical investors into a collective of eager supporters ready to fund the ambitious project.
From Old French contagieus, from Late Latin contagiosus, from contagio.
Often follows a linking verb like 'is' or 'becomes'; frequently modified by adverbs of degree such as 'highly' or 'extremely'.
a contagious personan infectious personWhile a disease is contagious, people are usually described as infectious when they are capable of spreading it.