contagion

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English

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 contagion on Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English (late 14th century), from Old French, from Latin contāgiō (“a touching, contact, contagion”) related to contingō (“touch closely”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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contagion (countable and uncountable, plural contagions)

  1. A disease spread by contact.
  2. The spread or transmission of such a disease.
    Synonym: infection
  3. (figuratively, by extension) The spread of anything likened to a contagious disease.
    1. The passing on of manners or behaviour through a closed community or household.
      • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 242:
        It is true, they were a good-natured and respectable set of servants, who had lived so long in their places that they might be said, by a happy contagion, to have caught kindly feelings from their superiors, and, having assisted in saving the lives of the young ladies, gave them an interest in their pleasures, and a real delight in seeing those fair young faces lighted up with joy.
    2. (finance) The spread of (initially small) shocks, which initially affect only a few financial institutions or a particular region of an economy, to other financial sectors and other countries whose economies were previously healthy.
      • 2011, George Soros, Project Syndicate, Germany Must Defend the Euro‎[1]:
        And it was German procrastination that aggravated the Greek crisis and caused the contagion that turned it into an existential crisis for Europe.
  4. (finance) A recession or crisis developed in such manner.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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From Latin contāgiōnem.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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contagion f (plural contagions)

  1. contagion
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Further reading

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