immunodeficiency
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of immunodeficiency
First recorded in 1970–75; immuno- + deficiency
Explanation
When someone's body can't protect itself from infection the way it should, they suffer from an immunodeficiency. Many patients being treated for cancer have immunodeficiencies. Your immune system is the network of cells that works to fight infection throughout your body, and when it isn't functioning well, the result is immunodeficiency. The word is rooted in the Latin immunis, "exempt," and deficere, "to fail." In other words, immunodeficiency is a failure of the system that keeps you free from infections and illness. Various diseases, genetic conditions, and medications can result in this risky situation.
Vocabulary lists containing immunodeficiency
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:
The growth was driven by strong sales of products for treatment of HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, which rose 10% to $5 billion, as well as the drugs Trodelvy and Livdelzi.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
They point out that malnutrition is the leading cause of immunodeficiency worldwide.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 12, 2024
HIV is human immunodeficiency virus, which damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and diseases.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2023
The legal dispute centered on who devised the idea of using a Gilead medication for people at high risk of contracting H.I.V., or the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2023
Moderna also is developing potential vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2023
People who have rare and complex chronic conditions, such as immunodeficiencies, rely on life-sustaining medicine developed from plasma donations – including Julie Jolley.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2022
Although Covid presents relatively few risks to children and vaccinated adults under 50, it presents more to older people and some with specific immunodeficiencies.
From New York Times ● Dec. 10, 2021
These are the pandemic experiences of immunocompromised people—those with organ transplants or certain cancers, those on chemotherapy or immunosuppressant drugs, those with genetic immunodeficiencies, those with other issues that suppress their immune systems.
From Slate ● Oct. 12, 2021
Its intravenous form is FDA-licensed for six conditions, including primary immunodeficiencies; Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation in the blood vessels; preventive care after bone marrow transplants; and a neurological condition called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2019
Inherited immunodeficiencies arise from gene mutations that affect specific components of the immune response.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
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.
