From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcontagiouscon‧ta‧gious /kənˈteɪdʒəs/ adjective 1 MISPREADa disease that is contagious can be passed from person to person by touch → infectious2 MISPREADa person who is contagious has a disease that can be passed to another person by touch → infectious The patient is still highly contagious.3 SPREADif a feeling, attitude, or action is contagious, other people are quickly affected by it and begin to have it or do it → infectious her contagious enthusiasm —contagiousness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
contagious• Most eye infections are contagious.• People with measles are highly contagious.• Moreover, where labour disputes in small enterprises might cause little stir, stoppages in major plants proved highly contagious.• Plus, such jobs are contagious.• Without proper treatment, sufferers from tuberculosis of the lung can be contagious all their life.• Part of this comes from a superstitious but unacknowledged sense that grief is contagious and unlucky.• Chicken pox is a highly contagious disease.• For many patients, acute care came in county or city general hospitals where patients with contagious diseases were sent.• Hardy has a booming voice and a contagious enthusiasm.• Furthermore, there were many differences of opinion regarding the question of just how contagious leprosy was and how it was transmitted.• The highly contagious phrase quickly infected the international media and spread across the globe in a matter of days. 