noncontagionist
|non-con-ta-gion-ist|
🇺🇸
/ˌnɑn.kənˈteɪ.dʒənɪst/
🇬🇧
/ˌnɒn.kənˈteɪ.dʒ(ə)nɪst/
one who denies disease spreads by contagion
Etymology
'noncontagionist' originates from Modern English, specifically formed from the prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non') meaning 'not', the noun 'contagion' from Latin 'contagionem' meaning 'a touching or contact' and later 'infection', and the agentive suffix '-ist' meaning 'one who'.
'contagion' came into English via Latin 'contagionem' (and Old French forms) meaning 'a touching' and developed the sense of 'transmission of disease'; the compound 'noncontagionist' arose in the 19th century by adding the negative prefix 'non-' and '-ist' to denote an adherent of the noncontagion view.
Initially 'contagion' referred broadly to 'touching' or 'contact'; over time it specialized to mean 'the transmission of disease', and 'noncontagionist' came to mean 'one who denies that such transmission occurs'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a person who denies or rejects the theory that infectious diseases spread by direct contagion; historically, an advocate of noncontagion (often associated with miasma theory).
In the 19th century noncontagionists argued that cholera was caused by miasma rather than person-to-person contagion.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/22 22:43