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Elisa
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ELISA
ELISAnouna sensitive diagnostic test for past or current exposure to an infectious agent, as the AIDS virus: a sample of blood is added to proteins from the agent, and any antibodies that combine with the proteins, indicating a history of infection, are detected by adding a test antibody linked to an enzyme that causes a color change.
Elisa
1 Americannoun
noun
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Medicine/Medical. a sensitive diagnostic test for past or current exposure to an infectious agent, as the AIDS virus: a sample of blood is added to proteins from the agent, and any antibodies that combine with the proteins, indicating a history of infection, are detected by adding a test antibody linked to an enzyme that causes a color change.
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Biology, Medicine/Medical. any similar test using proteins as a probe for the identification of antibodies or antigens.
acronym
Etymology
Origin of ELISA
e(nzyme-)l(inked) i(mmuno)s(orbent) a(ssay)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Araspe, the king of Cyprus, and his sister, Elisa, are in love with these two exiles and determined to have them no matter what.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Michigan Senator Elisa Slotkin, who grew up in the area and said she spent a lot of time around the temple while growing up, echoed that sentiment at the press conference.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
One snippet seems to be an episode on Elisa Lam, the real-life tourist found dead in the rooftop water tank of Los Angeles’ Cecil Hotel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
To detect plastic particles inside the insects, Devlin worked with Elisa Bergami, a microplastics specialist at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and imaging expert Giovanni Birarda at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 16, 2026
It was called a rapid Elisa test, and it was sensitive and easy to perform.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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Common tests like the ELISA, on which Hallisey based her project, rely on mixtures of protein and water to trigger the chemical reactions that lead to positive or negative results.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 23, 2015
The boys based their idea off a common testing method that’s been in use for decades, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, reported the BBC.
From Forbes ● Jun. 25, 2015
This process takes a few minutes at home, versus the two hours it would typically take a laboratory to run a comparable test using ELISA, Khattak said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 18, 2014
An additional lab test: The doctor ordered a Lyme Western blot and ELISA.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2012
The annual cost of all this testing, including the ELISA, confirmation tests and counseling, would probably be counted in the billions.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.