uninfected

Word family

• infect
  verbB2
• infected
  adjectiveB2
• infection
  nounB1
• infectious
  adjectiveB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

While all four words describe the absence of something unwanted, they differ in scope and formality. Clean is the broadest, covering physical cleanliness and moral purity — you would say 'clean hands' or 'a clean test result', but not 'clean tissue' in a pathology report. Clear is informal medical shorthand, typically used in phrases like 'clear of infection' or 'the scan is clear'; it is less precise and rarely appears in formal clinical notes. Disease-free is the closest synonym to uninfected, but it implies a longer-term or population-level state (e.g. 'a disease-free region'), whereas uninfected can describe a single person or sample tested at one moment. Sterile is the most stringent — it means completely free of all microorganisms, including harmless ones, which goes beyond what uninfected requires. In a medical chart, a wound described as 'uninfected' may still have normal skin flora; a 'sterile' wound has none.

Common collocations

Etymology

Formed in English from the prefix un- (originally Old English un-, meaning 'not') attached to the past participle infected, which comes from Latin inficere (to dip into, stain, or taint). The word has been used in medical contexts since at least the 19th century to describe a person, organ, or substance that has not been exposed to or affected by a disease-causing agent.