contaminer

contaminate, infect

verb kohn-tah-mee-NEH Rare

Origin: Latin contaminare

Usage Note

Contaminer is used for both biological contamination (contaminer l'eau, 'to contaminate the water') and figurative spread of harmful influence. The related noun contamination and adjective contaminé are common in public health discourse. During health crises, les personnes contaminées refers to those infected.

Examples

"Le virus a contaminé des milliers de personnes."

Natural Translation

The virus infected thousands of people.

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