immune

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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 (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːn

Adjective

immune (comparative more immune, superlative most immune)

  1. (usually with "from") Exempt; not subject to.
    As a diplomat, you are immune from prosecution.
    • 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.
  2. (medicine, usually with "to") Protected by inoculation, or due to innate resistance to pathogens.
    I am immune to chicken pox.
  3. (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.
  4. (medicine) Of or pertaining to the immune system.
    We examined the patient's immune response.
    • 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.

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

immune (plural immunes)

  1. (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

Verb

immune (third-person singular simple present immunes, present participle immuning, simple past and past participle immuned)

  1. (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.

References

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

immune m or f (masculine and feminine plural immunes)

  1. immune

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

immune

  1. inflection of immun:
    1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
    2. strong nominative/accusative plural
    3. weak nominative all-gender singular
    4. 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)

  1. immune, exempt, free, unscathed
    Synonyms: esente, libero

Related terms

Latin

Adjective

immūne

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of immūnis

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

immune

  1. definite singular and plural of immun

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

immune

  1. definite singular and plural of immun
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