son, envenom, toxicate; ulcerate, canker; taint, spoil, blight, mar, impair.
2. corrupt, pollute, vitiate, pervert; debauch, defile, debase, degrade, deflower, ravish; foul, befoul, besmirch.
3. imbue, infuse, inform, inject; influence, impress, affect, touch, leaven; excite, inflame, enkindle, enthuse, inspire; animate, stimulate, provoke, quicken, whet.
infection, n. 1. contamination, taint, poisoning, spoilage.
2. contagion, virus, bacillus, germ, bacteria; poison, miasma, venom, toxin; toxicity, virulence, septicity.
3. disease, epidemic, plague, bubonic plague, Black Death, pandemic; pestilence, pest, murrain, pox, scourge.
4. corruption, pollution, vitiation, perversion; defilement, debauchment, debasement, degradation, deflowering, ravishment; fouling, befouling, besmirch-ment.
5. influence, inspiration, infusion, enlivenment, afflatus; impulse, stimulation, animation, provocation, excitation, suscitation.
infectious, adj. 1. communicable, contagious, catching, spreading, infective, transmissible, transferable.
2. pestilent, baneful, malign, pestiferous, morbific, morbiferous; noisome, Dial, plaguy, germ-laden, zymotic, inoculable; poisonous, venomous, deadly, tox ic, mephitic; noxious, virulent, septic, miasmic; epidemic, endemic, pandemic, epizootic.
3. habit-forming, inducive, addictive, irresistible, compelling.
infecund, adj. unfruitful, barren, sterile. See - infertile.
infecundity, n. fruitlessness, barrenness, sterility. See - infertility, infelicitous, adj. 1. unhappy, woeful, miserable, sad, melancholic, woebegone, forlorn, brokenhearted; unfortunate, unlucky, wretched, pitiable, poor, gloomy; hopeless, desperate, desolate, heavy-laden, cheerless, despondent, depressed; chagrined, sorrowful, afflicted, pained, mortified, remorseful, regretful.
2. unfavorable, unpropitious, inauspicious, sinister, lowering, bleak; inopportune, untimely, premature; unblest, adverse, untoward, unprosperous, unsuccessful.
3. inapt, inappropriate, unfitting, unfit, unsuitable, inapplicable; inconsistent, incongruous, irrelevant; malapropos, ill-chosen, gauche, awkward, wrong, out of place; unadvisable, ill-advised, inexpedient, amiss.
infelicity, n. 1. unhappiness, sadness, melancholy, woe, dole, wretchedness, misery, gloom; hopelessness, despair, desolation, despondency; sorrow, chagrin, affliction, pain; tribulation, mortification, remorse, regret.
2. misfortune, bad luck, adversity, no luck; suffering, hardship, ill fortune, depression, hard times, bad times; travail, trials, troubles.
3. curse, blight, misfortune, bane, scourge, infliction, cup; ill wind, cold wind, blast, draught.
4. inaptness> inappropriateness, unfitness, unsuitability; inconsistency, inapplicability, incongruity, irrelevance; unadvisableness, inexpedience, amissness, wrongness.
infer, v. 1. deduce, reason, conclude, come to or reach or arrive at a conclusion, draw a conclusion, derive, obtain or get an answer, calculate, put two and two together, Inf. figure, Sl. dope out; gather, construe, understand, Archaic, collect; presume, assume, take for granted, suppose, opine, think, believe, Inf. Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. reckon; speculate, surmise, suspect, imagine; conjecture, theorize, hypothesize; estimate, judge, guess, SI. guesstimate, jump to a conclusion.