ACQUIRED IMMUNITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Immunity to a particular disease that is not innate but has been acquired during life; immunity can be acquired by the development of antibodies after an attack of an infectious disease or by a pregnant mother passing antibodies through the placenta to a fetus or by vaccination

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("acquired immunity" is a kind of...):

immunity; resistance ((medicine) the condition in which an organism can resist disease)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "acquired immunity"):

active immunity (a form of acquired immunity in which the body produces its own antibodies against disease-causing antigens)

passive immunity (an impermanent form of acquired immunity in which antibodies against a disease are acquired naturally (as through the placenta to an unborn child) or artificially (as by injection of antiserum))

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