immune

English

Etymology

From Middle French immun, from Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service”), from in- (“not”) + mūnus (“service”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈmjuːn/
• Rhymes: -uːn

Adjective

immune (comparative more immune, superlative most immune)

1. (usually with "from") Exempt; not subject to.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/9/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎^[1]:

     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^[2]:

     Bret Stephens believed that, by virtue of his comfortable position at the New York Times, he ought to be immune from insult or criticism.

   As a diplomat, you are immune from prosecution.

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.

4. (medicine) Of or pertaining to the immune system.
   • 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.

   We examined the patient's immune response.

Antonyms

• susceptible
• vulnerable

Derived terms

• autoimmune

Translations

exempt from inclusion

• Bulgarian: освободен от (osvoboden ot)
• Catalan: immune
• Finnish: koskematon (fi), immuuni (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: imun
• Portuguese: imune (pt) m or f, isento (pt) m
• Spanish: inmune (es)

protected due to innate resistance to pathogens

• Bulgarian: притежаващ имунитет (pritežavašt imunitet)
• Catalan: immune
• Czech: imunní (cs)
• Finnish: immuuni (fi), vastustuskykyinen
• French: immun (fr)
• Galician: inmune m or f
• German: immun (de)
• Hungarian: immunis (hu)
• Irish: imdhíonach
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: immune (it)
• Malay: imun
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: immun

  Nynorsk: immun

• Portuguese: imune (pt) m or f
• Spanish: inmune (es)
• Swedish: immun (sv)
• Tagalog: liway

not vulnerable

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: immun

  Nynorsk: immun

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

of or pertaining to the immune system

• Bulgarian: имунен (imunen)
• Czech: imunitní (cs)
• Finnish: immunologinen, immuuni- (fi)
• French: immunologique (fr), immunitaire (fr)
• Irish: imdhíonachta
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: immunològico
• Portuguese: imunológico (pt) m
• Spanish: inmunológico (es), inmunitario (es)
• Tagalog: may-kabal

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^[3], page 742:

     Susceptibles effectively exposed to cases become cases in the next time period; cases recovering from the infection accumulate as immunes.

Coordinate terms

• infective
• susceptible

Verb

1. (rare, transitive) To make immune.
   • Thomas Hardy

     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.

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Catalan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [imˈmu.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [imˈmu.ne]

Adjective

immune m or f (masculine and feminine plural immunes)

1. immune

Derived terms

• immunitzar

Related terms

• immunitat

Further reading

• “immune” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

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

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Italian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -une

Adjective

1. immune, exempt, free, unscathed

   Synonyms: esente, libero

Related terms

• immunità
• immuno-

 

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Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) immūne

1. nominative neuter singular of immūnis
2. accusative neuter singular of immūnis
3. vocative neuter singular of immūnis

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Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

1. definite singular and plural of immun

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

1. definite singular and plural of immun