infective

English

Etymology

From infect +‎ -ive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɛktɪv/
• Rhymes: -ɛktɪv

Adjective

infective (comparative more infective, superlative most infective)

1. Able to cause infection; infectious
   • 1984 December 29, Christine Guilfoy, “Health Worker's AIDS Prompts Investigation”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 2:

     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.

Translations

able to cause infection

• German: infektiös (de)
• Hungarian: fertőző (hu), ragályos (hu)
• Italian: infettivo (it)
• Korean: 감염성 (gamyeomseong)
• Polish: infekcyjny (pl), zakaźny (pl)

Noun

infective (plural infectives)

1. (epidemiology) A person who is capable of spreading a disease by infecting others.
   • 2002, Belinda Barnes, Glenn Fulford, Mathematical Modeling with Case Studies‎^[1], →ISBN, page 140:

     It is evident that the greater the number of susceptibles, then the greater the increase in the number of infectives.

Coordinate terms

• immune
• susceptible