Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An inanimate object or substance that is capable of transmitting infectious organisms from one individual to another.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any inanimate object (as a towel or money or clothing or dishes or books or toys etc.) that can transmit infectious agents from one person to another
Etymologies
- Back-formation from New Latin fōmitēs, pl. of Latin fōmes, tinder, from fovēre, to warm; see dhegwh- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Furthermore, I found it hard to believe that Dr. Erin Mears Kate Winslet has to define the word fomite for senior staffers at the Minnesota Department of Health.”
“And when I say "satisfying," I mean I squealed with delight every time I heard a Microbiology 1650 buzzword: fomite, paramyxovirus, live attenuated vaccine, encephalitis, and pleiomorphic, just to name a few.”
The Huffington Post: Priya Malhotra: The Facts and Fiction of On-Screen Medicine
“Remember, your PJs can be a fomite an inanimate object that will transmit disease.”
The Huffington Post: Margie Goldsmith: When Traveling, B Is for "Bedbug," not "Baggage"
“Direct zoonoses are transmitted from an infected vertebrate host to another host by direct contact, fomite or mechanical vector.”
“Harvath was beginning to wonder if some sort of fomite was responsible for infecting the non-Muslim population of Asalaam.”
“Aa intercept� qu� et syluis et cespitibus consueto gentis ad focos alendos fomite fer� destituuntur.”
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation
“Aa interceptæ; quæ et syluis et cespitibus consueto gentis ad focos alendos fomite ferè destituuntur.”
“Somebody comes and touches that fomite and there's a transmission.”
“Iraq ruining a fomite that gone preparing to flying a wounded Reuters journalist to the hospital.”
WN.com - Articles related to Tobacco Funds Shrink as Obesity Fight Intensifies
“Wikileaks on Monday presents US troops in Iraq ruining a fomite that gone preparing to flying”
WN.com - Articles related to Tobacco Funds Shrink as Obesity Fight Intensifies
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fomite’.
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Substancestry
Mysterious and theoretical substances and "stuff" of legend. More emphasis on the ancient, mystical, mythical, folklore, mathematical, and scientific. I won't be listing too many "sci-fi" or comed...
ylem, ichor, aether, ectoplasm, impossible object, quark star, eucharist, pixie dust, eitr, elixir of life, philosopher's stone, alkahest and 119 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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I didn't know there was a word for that!
interdigitate, aspheric, benthos, reptation, pastiche, pandiculate, agelast, obdormition, dysania, armscye, phosphene, etiolation and 56 more...
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There's a word for it
catkin, pastiche, badonkadonk, biome, omphaloscopy, pogonophobia, reptation, anathema, xyst, commodify, commoditize, monetize and 46 more...
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Homeland Security
Words associated with homeland security
resilience, terrorism, preparedness, catastrophe, fear, radicalization, intelligence, security theater, bogeyman, Weapons of mass d..., Critical infrastr..., Emergence and 45 more...
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February 2011
mirepoix, rubylith, torogoz, cecum, icterus, leptospirosis, antigenic, syncytium, electrophoresis, perivascular, glial, parenchyma and 9 more...
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Specificity
Words that have with subtly different meanings from other words.
vestibule, commoditize, commodify, monetize, corroborate, mezzanine, apposite, irony, calefacient, maxim, pandiculate, rarefaction and 19 more...
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Words of the day
The list of Wordnik words of the day.
panurgic, chapfallen, billingsgate, latration, witticaster, slitheroo, rux, crotchet, mirliton, arenose, ruelle, jane-of-apes and 76 more...

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