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

People who have not been immunized against measles, either through vaccination or prior infection, are at risk of getting sick between seven and 21 days after exposure. —Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2025

For those who are immunized for the most part should be protected. —Sean Krofssik, Hartford Courant, 30 Apr. 2025

One contagious person can infect 18 others around them who aren’t immunized. —Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2025

Similarly, in a study of women who were immunized against the human papillomavirus at age 12 or 13, none developed the disease later. —Deborah Fuller, The Conversation, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1889, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for immunize

• advertise
• aggrandize
• agonize
• alibis
• alkalies
• alkalis
• amortize
• amplifies
• analyse
• analyze
• anywise
• authorize

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