inoculate
to implant (a disease agent or antigen) in a person, animal, or plant to produce a disease for study or to stimulate disease resistance.
to affect or treat (a person, animal, or plant) in this manner.
to introduce (microorganisms) into surroundings suited to their growth, as a culture medium.
to imbue (a person), as with ideas.
Metallurgy. to treat (molten metal) chemically to strengthen the microstructure.
Origin of inoculate
1Other words for inoculate
Other words from inoculate
- in·oc·u·la·tive [ih-nok-yuh-ley-tiv, -yuh-luh-], /ɪˈnɒk yəˌleɪ tɪv, -yə lə-/, adjective
- in·oc·u·la·tor, noun
- non·in·oc·u·la·tive, adjective
- re·in·oc·u·late, verb, re·in·oc·u·lat·ed, re·in·oc·u·lat·ing.
- self-in·oc·u·lat·ed, adjective
- un·in·oc·u·lat·ed, adjective
- un·in·oc·u·la·tive, adjective
Words Nearby inoculate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use inoculate in a sentence
At least 70% of a population needs to be inoculated to create herd immunity, and governments could easily achieve that rate of coverage if they demanded vaccines for all.
Australia won’t be the last country to wrestle with a mandatory coronavirus vaccine | Olivia Goldhill | August 20, 2020 | QuartzFor a vaccine to work, at least 90% of the population needs to be inoculated.
Australia signs a deal for AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine—and considers making it mandatory | Naomi Xu Elegant | August 19, 2020 | FortuneThat, he says, would buy time to create a vaccine whose safety is fully understood before trying to inoculate billions of people.
Every country wants a covid-19 vaccine. Who will get it first? | Katie McLean | August 13, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewCasanova gathered data on children in France who were inoculated between 1974 and 1994.
Our Genes May Explain Severity of COVID-19 and Other Infections | Monique Brouillette | July 27, 2020 | Quanta MagazineIt inoculated the first volunteer with its candidate vaccine on March 16, just 63 days after the virus’s genetic makeup was revealed.
A COVID-19 vaccine may come soon. Will the blistering pace backfire? | Tina Hesman Saey | July 10, 2020 | Science News
The commander of the Continental Army realized that if he did not inoculate his army against smallpox, he might not have an army.
But even before adults enter their senior years, children are not a surefire way to inoculate against loneliness.
The ensuing hysteria persuaded some parents not to inoculate their kids for fear of triggering autism.
Twitter Crushes Anti-Vaccination Queen Jenny McCarthy | The Daily Beast | March 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA deeply-held belief in moral integrity does not inoculate one from mistakes, weakness and failure.
Petraeus Affair Stereotypes: The General, The Flirt And The Harlot | Robin Givhan | November 15, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTFirst, the two sides understood that minimal advance assurances were needed to inoculate the meeting against a debacle.
Winston Lord and Leslie H. Gelb: Nixon’s China Opening, 40 Years Later | Winston Lord, Leslie H. Gelb | February 20, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe surest method is to inoculate a small portion of the mixture with a minute crystal of the substance we expect to be formed.
The Elements of Qualitative Chemical Analysis, vol. 1, parts 1 and 2. | Julius StieglitzAs all these cultures are of virulent diseases, inoculate Inner N'gombi until intact tubes recovered.
The Keepers of the King's Peace | Edgar WallaceNow fill two fermentation tubes with the bouillon, tint with litmus solution, and sterilise; inoculate with B. lactis aerogenes.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique | John William Henry Eyreinoculate the liquefied medium and label it, etc., precisely as if dealing with a tube of bouillon.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique | John William Henry Eyreinoculate the plates in series of three, as described for gelatine surface plates 3-8.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique | John William Henry Eyre
British Dictionary definitions for inoculate
/ (ɪˈnɒkjʊˌleɪt) /
to introduce (the causative agent of a disease) into the body of (a person or animal), in order to induce immunity
(tr) to introduce (microorganisms, esp bacteria) into (a culture medium)
(tr) to cause to be influenced or imbued, as with ideas or opinions
Origin of inoculate
1Derived forms of inoculate
- inoculation, noun
- inoculative, adjective
- inoculator, noun
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
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