immune
English
Etymology
From Middle English, from Middle French immun, from Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service”), from in- (“not”) + mūnus (“service”).
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ɪˈmjuːn/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -uːn
Adjective
immune (comparative more immune, superlative most immune)
- (usually with "from") Exempt; not subject to.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/9/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- He had always been remarkably immune from such little ailments, and had only once in his life been ill, of a vicious pneumonia long ago at school. He hadn't the faintest idea what to with a cold in the head, he just took quinine and continued to blow his nose.
- 2019 September 3, David Karpf, “Bret Stephens Compared Me to a Nazi Propagandist in the New York Times. It Proved My Point.”, in Esquire:
- Bret Stephens believed that, by virtue of his comfortable position at the New York Times, he ought to be immune from insult or criticism.
- As a diplomat, you are immune from prosecution.
-
- (medicine, usually with "to") Protected by inoculation, or due to innate resistance to pathogens.
- I am immune to chicken pox.
- (by extension) Not vulnerable.
- Alas, he was immune to my charms.
- 1959 June, “The opening of the Colchester-Walton-Clacton electrification”, in Trains Illustrated, page 306:
- [...] most of the original electrical signalling equipment has had to be replaced by apparatus immune to 50-cycle currents.
- (medicine) Of or pertaining to the immune system.
- 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
- Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.
- We examined the patient's immune response.
-
Antonyms
- susceptible
- vulnerable
Derived terms
- acquired immune deficiency syndrome
- alloimmune
- autoimmune
- chemoimmune
- cryoimmune
- dysimmune
- gastrimmune
- hematoimmune
- heteroimmune
- homoimmune
- hyperimmune
- hypoimmune
- immune complex
- immune deficiency
- immune evasion, immunevasion
- immune reaction
- immune response
- immune system
- lymphoimmune
- neuroimmune
- nonimmune
- osteoimmune
- pauci-immune
- postimmune
- radioimmune
- seroimmune
- unimmune
- xenoimmune
Translations
exempt from inclusion
|
protected due to innate resistance to pathogens
|
not vulnerable
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of or pertaining to the immune system
|
Noun
immune (plural immunes)
- (epidemiology) A person who is not susceptible to infection by a particular disease
- 1965, Rene J. Dubos & James G. Hirsch, editors, Bacterial and Mycotic Infections of Man, page 742:
- Susceptibles effectively exposed to cases become cases in the next time period; cases recovering from the infection accumulate as immunes.
-
Coordinate terms
- infective
- susceptible
Verb
immune (third-person singular simple present immunes, present participle immuning, simple past and past participle immuned)
- (rare, transitive) To make immune.
- 1917, Thomas Hardy, In the Seventies
- In the seventies those who met me did not know / Of the vision / That immuned me from the chillings of mis-prision […]
- 1905, American Veterinary Medical Association, Journal (volume 29, page 42)
- The utilization of such milk will, however, necessitate an adaptable milk preservation method, through which the immuning agents will not be destroyed or diminished.
- 1917, Thomas Hardy, In the Seventies
Catalan
Etymology
From Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service”).
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central) IPA(key): /imˈmu.nə/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /imˈmu.ne/
Adjective
immune (masculine and feminine plural immunes)
- immune
Derived terms
- immunitzar
Related terms
- immunitat
Further reading
- “immune” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Adjective
immune
- inflection of immun:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Italian
Etymology
From Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /imˈmu.ne/
- Rhymes: -une
- Hyphenation: im‧mù‧ne
Adjective
immune (plural immuni)
- immune, exempt, free, unscathed
- Synonyms: esente, libero
Related terms
- immunità
- immuno-
Latin
Adjective
immūne
- nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of immūnis
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
immune
- definite singular and plural of immun
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
immune
- definite singular and plural of immun