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immune

[ih-myoon]
See more synonyms for immune on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. protected from a disease or the like, as by inoculation.
  2. of or relating to the production of antibodies or lymphocytes that can react with a specific antigen: immune reaction.
  3. exempt or protected: immune from punishment.
  4. not responsive or susceptible: immune to new ideas.
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noun
  1. a person who is immune.
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Origin of immune

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin immūnis exempt, equivalent to im- im-2 + -mūnis; see common
Related formshy·per·im·mune, adjectivenon·im·mune, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

resistant, unaffected, exempt, clear, safe, free, favored, irresponsible, licensed, privileged, protected, insusceptible, allowed, unanswerable, unliable

Examples from the Web for immune

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • We are self-centered, free-willed; immune from any possibility of offending the universe.

  • "Rather a costly experiment for you if I prove not to be immune," rallied Lennon.

    Bloom of Cactus

    Robert Ames Bennet

  • Of course it was a game at which two could play and we were not immune by any means.

    The Emma Gees

    Herbert Wes McBride

  • There are some children, however, who seem to be immune to vaccination.

  • But his mother had arranged it, so in a way it was immune from his iconoclastic rage.

    The Rough Road

    William John Locke

British Dictionary definitions for immune

immune

adjective
  1. protected against a specific disease by inoculation or as the result of innate or acquired resistance
  2. relating to or conferring immunityan immune body See antibody
  3. (usually postpositive foll by to) unsusceptible (to) or secure (against)immune to inflation
  4. exempt from obligation, penalty, etc
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noun
  1. an immune person or animal
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Word Origin

C15: from Latin immūnis exempt from a public service, from im- (not) + mūnus duty
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for immune

adj.

mid-15c., "free; exempt," back-formation from immunity. Cf. Latin immunis "exempt from public service, free from taxes." Specific modern medical sense of "exempt from a disease" (typically because of inoculation) is from 1881. Immune system attested by 1917.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
immune in Medicine

immune

(ĭ-myoōn′)
adj.
  1. Of, relating to, or having resistance to infection by a specific pathogen.
  2. Relating to the mechanism of sensitization in which the reactivity is so altered by previous contact with an antigen that the responsive tissues respond quickly upon subsequent contact.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.