DictionaryAI

inject

verb
USin-JEKT/ɪnˈd͡ʒɛkt/

Formsinjects, injecting, injected

7 meanings of inject

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To administer a dose of medicine or drugs to someone or something using a needle and syringe.

    The doctor injected the child with a vaccine during the visit.

    Paramedics inject patients with adrenaline to counter severe allergic reactions.

    Similarinoculate

    Note

    Here the object is the patient, not the substance. You inject someone with an anesthetic, while the pumping sense puts the fluid first and its destination after into. The object can also be a part of the body, as in "to inject the blood vessels." Both patterns describe the same act, and the preposition tells you which one is in play: with for the dose, into for the place.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To force a substance, especially a fluid, into a hollow space or channel under pressure, as by pumping.

    Workers injected concrete into the gaps beneath the sinking foundation.

    Engineers inject steam into the reservoir to force the trapped oil upward.

    Similarpump, force, introduce, insert

    Oppositeextract, withdraw

    Note

    The literal sense, and the closest to the word's Latin origin: iniciō, "I throw in," from in- plus iaciō, "I throw." English replaced the throwing with pushing or pumping, but the inward direction stayed. That is why the verb so naturally takes into before the destination: a drug into a vein, concrete into a gap, steam into a reservoir.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To introduce or add something different or foreign into something else.

    The new director injected a sense of urgency into the failing department.

    Skilled negotiators inject doubt into the other side's confidence.

    Similarintroduce, infuse, instill, bring, add

    Note

    A fixed phrase is built around this sense: inject some spice into a life, or some much-needed light relief into a hard journey. The pattern is usually some plus a noun for the lively element, followed by into and the dull or difficult thing that receives it. The tone is often light and a little self-mocking.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To introduce something suddenly or with force.

    The breaking news injected alarm into the trading floor within seconds.

    One careless remark can inject tension into an entire room.

    Similarintroduce, bring, infuse

    Note

    The figurative push. What goes in is now a mood or a quality, such as urgency, tension or alarm, and the stress falls on how abruptly it arrives. Milton uses it in 1649 when Caesar "injected the same scrupulous demurs," throwing objections into the proceedings. Where suddenness is not the point, the "add something foreign" meaning is the better fit.

  5. 5
    verbintransitive
    To take or be administered something, especially medicine or drugs, by means of an injection.

    Patients learn to inject safely before they are discharged from the clinic.

    She had been injecting daily to manage her condition.

    Note

    With no object at all, the verb leaves the substance to context. "Since I stopped injecting," said alongside talk of withdrawal, points to drug use. "Learning to inject" in a clinic points to prescribed medicine. Because the bare form can lean either way, writers who want to avoid a misreading usually name what is being injected or make the setting plain.

  6. 6
    verbtransitive
    To introduce code into an existing program or its memory, often loosely connected and sometimes through a security weakness.

    Attackers inject malicious code into programs that fail to check their input.

    The worm injected its payload into the running process.

    Similarinsert, introduce, embed, plant

    Note

    In computing, the object usually names the language of what is slipped in: attackers inject code, SQL or JavaScript. The inserted material changes how the program behaves without ever becoming part of its source. A common way in is input the program fails to check. Programmers were already writing in 1996 of injecting code into a running process with CreateRemoteThread, before the word came to center on attacks.

Less common meaning

  1. 7
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To cast or throw something, used with the preposition on.
    And mound inject on mound.
    1725, Homer, The Odyssey of Homer
    Note

    An obsolete use that keeps the Latin "throw" behind the literal pumping sense almost undisguised. It meant casting one thing on top of another, and it took on rather than into. Pope's translation of the Odyssey (1725) heaps "mound inject on mound." Today it belongs only in quoted older verse. Modern writing would use cast or throw.

Practice

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Origin

From Latin iniectus (also injectus), the participle of iniciō/injiciō ("I throw in"), formed from in- plus iaciō ("I throw").