inoculate
Other forms: inoculated; inoculating; inoculates
If you inoculate someone, you try to make him immune to a disease by injecting a little dose of it, so his body can make antibodies to fight it off. When you were little you probably got a vaccine to inoculate you against smallpox.
When inoculate first came into English in the 15th century, it referred to inserting a bud onto another plant. Now you’re more likely to hear it used to describe the process of building up immunity to a disease by giving someone a vaccine, which also involves the insertion of foreign matter. You can also inoculate someone metaphorically, with ideas.
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impregnate with the virus or germ of a disease in order to render immunetype of:impregnatefertilize and cause to grow
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perform vaccinations or produce immunity in by inoculation
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introduce a microorganism into
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introduce an idea or attitude into the mind of“My teachers inoculated me with their beliefs”type of:informimpart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to
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insert a bud for propagationtype of:propagatecause to propagate, as by grafting or layering
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Vocabulary lists containing inoculate
Looking to build your vocabulary? Then practice this list of 300 "hard words" — the kind that used to be tested on the SAT before 2016. If you're a high school student prepping for the SAT, check out Vocabulary.com's Roadmap to the SAT, which focuses on the vocabulary you'll need to ace today's SAT test.
Shakespeare's famous tragedy tells the story of a Danish prince who must decide whether or not to avenge his father's death.
A New York Times reporter participates in a spelling bee at a Brooklyn bar. Here are 18 words, (not the ones he had to spell) about his experience. Drawn from Test of Wits and Sobriety The New York Times, August 1. 2013