contractable
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Capable of being transmitted by infection: Describes a disease or condition that can be passed from one person, animal, or organism to another through direct or indirect contact.
Usage
- The primary use of "contractable" is in medical and public health contexts to describe the infectious nature of a disease.
- It is typically used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like "is" or "are").
Examples
- Adjective:
- Measles is a highly contractable disease.
- The health department issued a warning about the new, easily contractable virus.
- Not all illnesses are contractable; some are genetic.
Advanced Usage
- "contractable" vs. "contagious": While often used interchangeably in casual speech, "contractable" is a broader term meaning "able to be contracted." "Contagious" more specifically describes diseases spread by direct or close contact between individuals.
- The disease is contractable through contaminated water, but it is not directly contagious from person to person.
Variants and Related Words
- Contract (verb): To acquire or become affected by (a disease).
- He contracted malaria while traveling.
- Contagious (adjective): (Of a disease) spread from one person or organism to another by direct or indirect contact.
- Communicable (adjective): (Of a disease) able to be transmitted from one person to another; synonymous with "infectious" or "contagious."
- Infectious (adjective): (Of a disease or disease-causing organism) likely to be transmitted to people, organisms, etc., through the environment.
Synonyms
- Transmissible
- Communicable
- Infectious
- Catching (informal)
Antonyms
- Non-contagious
- Non-communicable
- Non-infectious
Adjective
- (of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection