immune

[ih-myoon] /ɪˈmyun/

adjective

protected from a disease or the like, as by inoculation.

of or pertaining to the production of antibodies or lymphocytes that can react with a specific antigen:

immune reaction.

exempt or protected:

immune from punishment.

not responsive or susceptible:

immune to new ideas.

noun

a person who is immune.

Origin

1400-50; late Middle English < Latin immūnis exempt, equivalent to im- im-² + -mūnis; see common

Related forms

hyperimmune, adjective

nonimmune, adjective

Examples from the web for immune

It wasn't that smoking was safe, or that mice were immune.
But its ruling does not necessarily mean that other colleges' policies are now immune to legal challenges.
As one example, he highlighted the genetic work on a mouse strain with a human immune-system complex.
But student-loan debt seems to be immune from this newfound penny-pinching.
It was approved for use along with other medicines that suppress the immune system, including corticosteroids.
And not even celebs are immune to global soccer fever.
It determined the presence of antibodies, which show that a body's immune system has begun to respond to an infection.
He then injected some of the cancer cells into immune-deficient mice on which he could test new kinds of treatment.
Most people never even know they have it, and simply fight it off with a normal immune-system response.
Mesenchymal stem cells are immune-modulators, which means that they will not be rejected by the patient's immune system.

British Dictionary definitions for immune

immune

/ɪˈmjuːn/

adjective

protected against a specific disease by inoculation or as the result of innate or acquired resistance

relating to or conferring immunity: an immune body See antibody

(usually postpositive) foll by to. unsusceptible (to) or secure (against): immune to inflation

exempt from obligation, penalty, etc

noun

an immune person or animal

Word Origin

C15: from Latin immūnis exempt from a public service, from im- (not) + mūnus duty

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.

immune in Medicine

immune im·mune (ĭ-myoōn')
adj.

Of, relating to, or having immunity to infection by a specific pathogen.
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.