Standard Lemma guide

communicable

adj · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kəˈmjuːnɪkəbəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH0 M Y UW1 N AH0 K AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Able to be transmitted between people or animals.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: epidemiology, medicine, sciences

Examples

  • (but the last two are not interchangeable in formal registers)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: transmissible, spreadable, catching

Antonyms: nontransmissible, noncommunicable

Broader terms: infectious

Narrower terms: contagious

2

adj

Meaning 2

Readily communicated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: incommunicable, ineffable

3

adj

Meaning 3

Talkative or expansive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

readily communicated

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • communicable ideas

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

(of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: catching, contagious, contractable, transmissible, transmittable

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Old French communicable, Latin communicabilis.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: comunicable — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Czech: přenosný — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • French: communicable — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • French: communiquable — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Galician: comunicable — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Greek: μεταδόσιμος (metadósimos) — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Greek: μεταδοτικός (metadotikós) — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Hungarian: fertőző — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Hungarian: ragályos — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Indonesian: berjangkit — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Indonesian: menular — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Italian: trasmissibile — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Japanese: 伝染性の (densensei no) — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Malay: berjangkit — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Polish: komunikowalny — able to be transmitted between people or species
  • Spanish: comunicable — able to be transmitted between people or species