Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Capable of being passed from one person, organism, or thing to another: Describes something, such as a disease, trait, or information, that can be transmitted or transferred.
   • Inheritable according to established rules: Describes properties, rights, or characteristics that can be legally or biologically passed down from one generation to the next.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The virus is highly transmissible through the air. (The virus can easily be passed from one person to another through the air.)
  • Certain genetic disorders are transmissible from parent to child. (Some genetic disorders can be inherited by children from their parents.)
  • Knowledge is a transmissible asset within a culture. (Knowledge is something that can be passed on within a culture.)

Advanced Usage

• In a legal or hereditary context: Used to describe property, titles, or rights that can be transferred to an heir.
  • The title of nobility was transmissible only to the eldest son. (The noble title could only be passed down to the oldest son.)
• In epidemiology: A core term describing the ease with which a pathogen spreads.
  • Scientists study the factors that make a new strain more transmissible. (Scientists research what causes a new strain of a virus to spread more easily.)

Variants and Related Words

• Transmit (verb): To send, pass, or transfer from one person or place to another.
  • Mosquitoes can transmit malaria.
• Transmission (noun): The act or process of transmitting something.
  • The transmission of data occurs almost instantly.
• Nontransmissible (adj.): Not capable of being transmitted.
  • Some illnesses are nontransmissible between species.

Synonyms

• Communicable: Often used specifically for diseases that can be spread.
• Contagious: Typically describes diseases spread by direct or indirect contact.
• Infectious: Caused by an organism (like a bacteria or virus) that can invade a host.
• Heritable: Capable of being inherited genetically.
• Transferable: Capable of being moved or conveyed from one place or person to another.

Related Phrases

• Transmissible disease: A disease that can be spread from one host to another.
  • Public health measures aim to control transmissible diseases.
• Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE): A family of rare brain disorders, like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, that are transmissible.
  • Mad cow disease is a well-known transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.

Notes on Meaning

• While transmissible, contagious, and infectious are often used interchangeably regarding diseases, there are nuances:
  • Transmissible is the broadest term, covering any method of transfer (genetic, infectious, etc.).
  • Contagious usually implies spread by direct or close contact.
  • Infectious specifically refers to diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms.

Adjective

1. inherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal rules) of descent
   • ancestral home
   • ancestral lore
   • hereditary monarchy
   • patrimonial estate
   • transmissible tradition
2. occurring among members of a family usually by heredity
   • an inherited disease
   • familial traits
   • genetically transmitted features
3. (of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection