Vaccine Meaning
/vækˈsin/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOf, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
adjOf or pertaining to cowpox as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox; also, of or pertaining to such material used for vaccination.
Sentence Examples
Scientists haven't found a vaccine for cancer yet.
Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in 1952.
Researchers around the world are collaborating to develop a new vaccine.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The research team developed a new ____ that prevents the deadly disease effectively.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The scientists spent several many months developing a new ____ that would be effective against the rare tropical disease today.
Word Origin & History
Learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus (“of or derived from a cow”), from vacca (“cow (female cattle)”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sense 1 refers to the early use of the cowpox virus as a vaccination against smallpox: see New Latin variolae vaccīnae (“cowpox”, plural, literally “infectious diseases of cattle causing pustules”), coined by the British physician and scientist Edward Jenner (1749–1823).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I will call upon them: they are healthy children, we can have the vaccine infection from them, and I will inoculate the boy myself."
— 1804, Maria Edgeworth, “To-morrow. Chapter VII. Moral Habits Seldom Changed by Change of Fortune.”, in Popular Tales, volume III, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], [b]y C. Mercier and Co., […], →OCLC, page 389:
"[M]y play could not have been written but for the work done by Sir Almroth Wright in the theory and practice of securing immunization from bacterial diseases by the inoculation of "vaccines" made of their own bacteria: a practice incorrectly called vaccinetherapy (there is nothing vaccine about it) apparently because it is what vaccination ought to be and is not."
— 1906 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “The Doctor’s Dilemma. Preface on Doctors. The Latest Theories.”, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, Getting Married, & The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, London: Constable and Company, published 1911, →OCLC, pages lxxxviii–lxxxxix:
"I am much inclined to the vaccine. My friend, Mr. L—, has had all his children vaccined, and I just wait to see the effect."
— 1804, Maria Edgeworth, “To-morrow. Chapter VII. Moral Habits Seldom Changed by Change of Fortune.”, in Popular Tales, volume III, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], [b]y C. Mercier and Co., […], →OCLC, page 387:
"But he really ought to know the difference between a vaccine and an anti-toxin. Stimulate the phagocytes! The vaccine doesnt affect the phagocytes at all."
— 1906 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “The Doctor’s Dilemma”, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, Getting Married, & The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, London: Constable and Company, published 1911, →OCLC, Act I, page 28:
"South Korea is willing to cooperate with the North to tackle the disease outbreak, but Pyongyang remains unresponsive to any offers for dialogue, including Seoul's earlier proposal to provide COVID vaccines, said another official at the unification ministry.
South Hwanghae Province, where Haeju is located, is North Korea's key agricultural region, raising concerns over possible impacts on the country's already dire food shortage."
— 2022 June 16, Soo-Hyang Choi, Hyonhee Shin, “North Korea faces infectious disease outbreak amid COVID battle”, in Lincoln Feast, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The research team developed a new ____ that prevents the deadly disease effectively.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The scientists spent several many months developing a new ____ that would be effective against the rare tropical disease today.