Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An agent, such as heat, radiation, or a chemical, that destroys, neutralizes, or inhibits the growth of disease-carrying microorganisms.
  • adjective Serving to disinfect.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Serving to disinfect; disinfecting.
  • noun An agent used for destroying the contagium or germs of infectious diseases.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That which disinfects, especially an agent for killing or removing the microorganisms which cause infection. Commonly used disinfectants are chlorine, sodium hypochlorite solution, hydrogen peroxide, and alcohol.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Referring to something that contains a disinfectant or has the properties of a disinfectant.
  • noun A substance which kills germs and/or viruses.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective preventing infection by inhibiting the growth or action of microorganisms
  • noun an agent (as heat or radiation or a chemical) that destroys microorganisms that might carry disease

Etymologies

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