immunize

verb

im·​mu·​nize ˈi-myə-ˌnīz 

immunized; immunizing; immunizes

transitive verb

: to make (someone or something) immune to something : to provide with protection against or immunity from something

… the investigation has been slowed by the refusal of seven former and current Hughes officials to cooperate unless immunized from prosecution.

—Andy Pasztor and Rick Wartzman

Budding novelists immunize themselves against rejection by recalling rebuffs endured by even the most successful novelists …

—Edwin McDowell

specifically : to make (a living organism) immune or resistant to a disease or pathogenic agent especially by inoculation : to create immunity in (as with a vaccine)

Measles can be almost completely controlled when adequate numbers of people within a population are immunized.

—Scientific American Medicine

… immunizing as many citizens as possible before an outbreak makes sense …

—Shannon Brownlee

Examples of immunize in a Sentence

Many people had to be immunized after being exposed to the disease.

Recent Examples on the Web

Measles was eliminated in the United States in 2000, and American children generally must be immunized to attend school. —Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024

The Illinois Department of Public Health's Vax Verify tool allows parents to check vaccination records for those immunized in the state from 2007 onward. —Aria Bendix, NBC News, 12 Mar. 2024

Some of the gap results from parents unable or unwilling to share records with the schools, and not because their children are not immunized, Dr. Hahn said. —Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024

Herd immunity is the portion of the population that must be immunized against an infection to prevent its spread through the community. —Brenda Goodman, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024

If one person is infected, up to 90% of people surrounding them will also become infected if they are not immunized. —Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 15 Mar. 2024

In 2010, in the American Needle case, the Supreme Court held that this joint venture structure did not immunize clubs from antitrust scrutiny. —Chris Deubert, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024

The Fed has historically sought to immunize itself from political pressures and didn't comment on Trump's remarks. —Rob Wile, NBC News, 13 Feb. 2024

In 2019, America was doing great in terms of measles vaccination—across the country, 95.2 percent of kindergartners were getting immunized, according to the CDC—and yet, in spite of this fantastic progress, measles cases were exploding. —Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1889, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

immunize

verb

im·​mu·​nize ˈim-yə-ˌnīz 

immunized; immunizing

: to make immune

have been immunized against polio

Medical Definition

immunize

transitive verb

im·​mu·​nize

variants also British immunise

ˈim-yə-ˌnīz 

immunized also British immunised; immunizing also British immunising

: to make immune

Legal Definition

immunize

transitive verb

im·​mu·​nize ˈi-myə-ˌnīz 

immunized; immunizing

: to grant immunity to

the ultimately ill-fated effort to immunize state judges from the burdens of the federal income tax

—J. K. Owens

immunization

ˌi-myə-nə-ˈzā-shən 

noun