| Library / English Dictionary |
INFECTIVE AGENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An agent capable of producing infection
Synonyms:
infectious agent; infective agent
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("infective agent" is a kind of...):
agent (an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "infective agent"):
virus ((virology) ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts; many are pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein)
pathogen (any disease-producing agent (especially a virus or bacterium or other microorganism))
