Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use contagious in a sentence

27 example sentences · adjective

Contagious means easily transmitted to others. Example: “Last year's flu strain was so contagious that everybody in town got sick!”

Examples of contagious by meaning

adjectiveEasily transmitted to others.

  • Last year's flu strain was so contagious that everybody in town got sick!

adjectiveEasily passed on to others.

  • contagious enthusiasm; infectious laughter
  • Wearing jeans was a contagious fad at that time.
  • One such investigation described how kindness can be contagious.2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR

adjectiveHaving a disease that can be transmitted to another person.

  • They were highly contagious, spreading bacteria to other people.

More sentences with contagious

  • After her promotion, she carried out her new position with a spring in her step and a contagious smile.From the entry spring in one's step
  • The gapes is contagious: when one person gets the gapes, pretty soon you've got a roomful of gapers.From the entry gapes
  • All embarkees are screened for contagious disease.From the entry embarkee
  • Most warts are due to microorganisms, and are feebly autoinoculable and contagious.2002, F. M. Dearborn, Diseases of the Skin with Illustrations, →ISBN, page 286. From the entry senile wart
  • It's a highly contagious disease which can affect all propeller mechs.1979, Daved V. Arel, “Switchitis”, in Mech, page 6. From the entry mech
  • There was a rule that the leproserie should take contagious cases only.1961, Graham Greene, Burnt-out Case, page 13. From the entry leprosery
  • In other words, generosity towards strangers may be socially contagious."2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR. From the entry pay it forward
  • The rise of sneakerheads, as aficionados of artistically enhanced footwear call themselves, has had a contagious impact on shoe companies.2006 March 23, Eric Wilson, “Sneakerhead Bonanza”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry sneakerhead
  • His enthusiasm is contagious, and his delts are outrageous.1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, 47 (6): 28-34. From the entry delts
  • Nate was laughing, too, infected by Check's contagious wheezing.1973, Robert Boston, A Thorn for the Flesh, page 30. From the entry wheeze
  • The cold is both contagious and infectious.1941 February 17, Edgar Cayce, “Common Cold”, in Gladys Davis Turner, Mae Gimbert St. Clair, compilers, Individual Reference File of…. From the entry flushiness
  • The greatest hindrance to the development of a rural patriotism is that very prevalent and quite contagious disease, urbanitis.1916, Ernest Irving Antrim, Fifty million strong: or, Our rural reserve. From the entry urbanitis
  • AITA if I tell her I have a highly contagious disease and she'd better check in to the Bounty Bay's ER right now?2020, Tracey Alvarez, Trust Your Heart. From the entry AITA
  • She talked animatedly, with her hands, and her excitement about something as boring as the differences between a saison and a grisette was contagious.2018, Suzanne Baltsar, Trouble Brewing, Gallery Books, →ISBN, pages 20–21. From the entry grisette
  • Lucky Lady is in isolation for a couple of weeks, trying to shake a case of contagious ecthyma, or sore mouth, a condition Ms.2007 July 7, Kim Severson, “Rounded Up in the City, Then Coddled in Style”, in New York Times. From the entry ecthyma
  • The highly contagious disease bluecomb, also called transmissible enteritis and mud fever, affects the intestinal tract of turkeys of all ages, including breeding stock.1971, Agriculture Handbook, number 393, page 60. From the entry bluecomb
  • Even if all that happens, however, is that people have a space to write in community with each other, the result is usually that writing becomes contagious.2018, Bronwyn T. Williams, “A Sense of Where You Are: Literacy, Place, and Mobility”, in Literacy Practices and Perceptions of Agency…. From the entry community
  • The current, predominantly right-wing perception is of the Balkans as a contagious disease, an infectious sore in the soft underbelly of Europe, best left to fester in isolation.2014, Christian Promitzer, Siegfried Gruber, Harald Heppner, editors, Southeast European Studies in a Globalizing World, LIT Verlag…. From the entry soft underbelly
  • You have the right to know that a diseased man is near you because, and I say this carefully, drapetomania is contagious, and I am glad about it.1989, David Pilgrim, Race relations "above the veil": speeches, essays, and other writings. From the entry drapetomania
  • Norovirus outbreaks are rising across the United States; it is impressively contagious: The virus spreads rapidly, symptoms appear suddenly, and the virus can survive on surfaces for days to weeks.2025 January 7, Alexandra Sifferlin, “America Needs a Norovirus Vaccine, Now”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times…. From the entry norovirus
  • Lately, there's been this contagious idea that I resemble a hungry, murdery girl ghost from a Japanese horror movie, so Jenny came to school in blue lipstick and white powder.2015, Maria Dahvana Headley, Magonia, HarperTeen, →ISBN. From the entry murdery
  • No, Jamaica is the land of versions, so they give us one: a hyperpersonal, very contagious celebration of their love affair with reggae and Jamaica —— beaches, country and all.2008 June 1, Baz Dreisinger, “Hope You Like Jamming Too”, in New York Times. From the entry hyperpersonal

Meaning of contagious

  1. adjective Easily transmitted to others.
  2. adjective Easily passed on to others.
  3. adjective Having a disease that can be transmitted to another person.

Full definition of contagious

Questions about contagious in a sentence

How do you use contagious in a sentence?
Contagious is used as an adjective. For example: “Last year's flu strain was so contagious that everybody in town got sick!”
What is a short sentence with contagious?
“contagious enthusiasm; infectious laughter”
What does contagious mean?
Contagious means easily transmitted to others.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contagious (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use contagious in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/contagious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.