humoral
adjective
hu·mor·al
ˈhyü-mə-rəl 
ˈyü-
1
: of, relating to, proceeding from, or involving a bodily humor (such as a hormone)
2
: relating to or being the part of immunity or the immune response that involves antibodies secreted by B cells and circulating in bodily fluids
Examples of humoral in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In this context, feelings like anger, joy, sadness, fear, and shame could be understood through humoral medicine, a longstanding framework for addressing the body’s needs.
—
Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 25 Nov. 2024
Hippocrates was guided in his thinking by the theory of humoral medicine, which posited that there are four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile), which must be balanced for good health.
—Nina Elkadi, JSTOR Daily, 2 Oct. 2024
For nearly two thousand years, the body's physical health was based on humoral theory, a belief that heavily influenced both Western and Eastern medicine.
—Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2023
B cells, also known as humoral cells, are a type of immune cell that make antibodies and are made in the bone marrow.
—Tasnim Ahmed, CNN, 10 Mar. 2022
The early focus in vaccine development and immunity surveillance has been heavily weighted toward neutralizing antibodies (the humoral response) because historically they are well understood and easy to measure.
—WSJ, 12 Jan. 2022
Current understanding dictates that much of the body’s ability to prevent infection comes from the humoral response; it’s now been very well documented that successive variants of SARS-CoV-2 evade by mutations primarily in the Spike protein.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2022
Medieval scholars thought the plague arose from causes both universal (unfortunate astrological conjunctions) and particular (corrupted airs and humoral imbalances).
—Spencer Strub, The New York Review of Books, 25 Mar. 2020
But universities didn’t teach much more than Christian theology, philosophy and humoral theory, which still dominated medical thinking even though it was first popularized in Ancient Greece.
—Olivia Campbell, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Mar. 2021
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Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 25 Nov. 2024
Hippocrates was guided in his thinking by the theory of humoral medicine, which posited that there are four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile), which must be balanced for good health.
—Nina Elkadi, JSTOR Daily, 2 Oct. 2024
For nearly two thousand years, the body's physical health was based on humoral theory, a belief that heavily influenced both Western and Eastern medicine.
—Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2023
B cells, also known as humoral cells, are a type of immune cell that make antibodies and are made in the bone marrow.
—Tasnim Ahmed, CNN, 10 Mar. 2022
The early focus in vaccine development and immunity surveillance has been heavily weighted toward neutralizing antibodies (the humoral response) because historically they are well understood and easy to measure.
—WSJ, 12 Jan. 2022
Current understanding dictates that much of the body’s ability to prevent infection comes from the humoral response; it’s now been very well documented that successive variants of SARS-CoV-2 evade by mutations primarily in the Spike protein.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2022
Medieval scholars thought the plague arose from causes both universal (unfortunate astrological conjunctions) and particular (corrupted airs and humoral imbalances).
—Spencer Strub, The New York Review of Books, 25 Mar. 2020
But universities didn’t teach much more than Christian theology, philosophy and humoral theory, which still dominated medical thinking even though it was first popularized in Ancient Greece.
—Olivia Campbell, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Mar. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Humoral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humoral. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
humoral
adjective
hu·mor·al
ˈ(h)yüm-(ə-)rəl
1
: of, relating to, proceeding from, or involving a bodily humor (as a hormone)
humoral control of sugar metabolism
2
: relating to or being the part of immunity or the immune response that involves antibodies secreted by B cells and circulating in bodily fluids
humoral immunity
humoral immune response
humoral system of immunity
compare cell-mediated
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