PATHOGEN Synonyms

• an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning

• anything that provides inspiration for later work

• a small apparently simple structure (as a fertilized egg) from which new tissue can develop into a complete organism

• a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use

• the pathological state resulting from the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms

• (phonetics) the alteration of a speech sound under the influence of a neighboring sound

• (medicine) the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms and their multiplication which can lead to tissue damage and disease

• an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted

• the communication of an attitude or emotional state among a number of people

• moral corruption or contamination

• (international law) illegality that taints or contaminates a ship or cargo rendering it liable to seizure

• any organism of microscopic size

• an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); it obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or killing the host

• a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

• (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

• a harmful or corrupting agency

• a software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer