Dictionary

inoculate en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ɪˈnɑːkjuleɪt/ (General-American)
• /ɪˈnɒkjuleɪt/ (UK)

Etymology

First attested in c. 1440; inherited from Middle English inoculaten (“to graft”), from Latin inoculātus, perfect passive participle of inoculō (“to ingraft an eye or bud of one plant into (another), implant”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + oculus (“an eye”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To introduce an antigenic substance or vaccine into something (e.g. the body) or someone, such as to produce immunity to a specific disease.
   • The sense that it takes outrageous fortune to get inoculated echoes here in the Bay Area, where pharmacies have canceled flu-shot clinics, doctors turn away pleading patients and health officials are reduced to telling panicked callers that they should practice good personal hygiene. 2004 October 29, Marco R. Della Cava, “Vaccine shortage pricks tempers”, in Statesman Journal, volume 152, number 214, Salem, OR, page 2A:
   • But you would not willingly thus give up the Cause; therefore endeavour to draw others into your Assistance, and venture to assert, that by the Account Dr. Nettleton gives, as also by the best Observation upon those who have been Inoculated in this City, scarcely a fourth part of them have had a true and genuine Small Pox. 1722, John Crawford, The Case of Inoculating the Small-pox Consider'd: And Its Advantages Asserted; in a Review of Dr. Wagstaffe's Letter. Wherein Every Thing that Author Has Advanced Against It, is Fully Confuted: and Inoculation Proved a Safe, Beneficial, and Laudable Practice.:
2. (broadly, transitive) To safeguard or protect something as if by inoculation.
   • This made it possible for them to enjoy the media without personally changing their views in ways that they believed it changed the views of others. In a sense, they believed that their religion inoculated them against the media's negative effects. 2005 October 27, Lynn Schofield Clark, From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 20:
   • Her upbringing overseas inoculated her against prejudice.
   • Lenihan insisted that, given their history both as a former colony and a net exporter of people round the world, the Irish were better inoculated against racism and xenophobia than other EU nations[…] 2011 November 7, Guy Arnold, Migration: Changing the World, Pluto Books, →ISBN:
3. (transitive) To add one substance to another.
   • The culture medium was inoculated with selenium to investigate the rate of uptake.
4. (transitive) To graft by inserting buds.
   • And in Aprill figtreen inoculate c. 1420, anonymous author, edited by Barton Lodge, On husbondrie, Published for the Early English Text Society, by N. Trübner & Co., translation of original by Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius, published 1872:
   • to inoculate the bud of one tree or plant into another
   • to inoculate a tree
5. (figuratively, transitive) To introduce into the mind (used especially of harmful ideas or principles).
   • You ſhould not haue beleeu'd me, for vertue cannot ſo e[n]oculat our old ſtock, but vve ſhall reliſh of it, I loued you not. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], signature G2, verso:
   • to inoculate someone with treason or infidelity
   • The Church tries to inoculate humanity with the imaginary goodness drawn down from a fabulous heaven, and from a priest-manufactured God. 1860, John Watts, The Christian Doctrine of Man's Depravity Refuted, Watts & Company, page 14:

Forms

Deriveds

reinoculate · inoculee · inoculable · inoculent · autoinoculate · agroinoculated · preinoculate · subinoculate · coinoculate · noninoculated · uninoculated · agroinoculate

Relateds

inoculum · inoculant · vaccinate · inoculator · inoculative · inoculation · immunize

Synonyms

imbue · implant · vaccinate · immunize · spike · vaccine

Translations (54)

fi rokottaa (to safeguard as if by inoculation) · eo inokuli (to provide immunity) · ru приви́ть (to provide immunity) · de impfen (to provide immunity) · sk zaočkovať (to provide immunity) · vi tiêm phòng (to provide immunity) · pon doakoa (to provide immunity) · ru привива́ть (to provide immunity) · el εμβολιάζω (to provide immunity) · bg внушавам (to introduce into the mind) · de äugeln (to graft by inserting buds) · sv inympa (to add one substance to another) · nl inoculeren (to add one substance to another) · fi rokottaa (to provide immunity) · sv inokulera (to provide immunity) · es inocular (to provide immunity) · sk zaštepiť (to graft by inserting buds) · fi lisätä (to add one substance to another) · sl cepiti (to provide immunity) · ba ялғау (to graft by inserting buds) · sv inokulera (to add one substance to another) · az aşılamaq (to graft by inserting buds) · bg ваксинирам (to provide immunity) · vi chủng (to provide immunity) · fr inoculer (to provide immunity) · sk očkovať (to provide immunity) · vi tiêm chủng (to provide immunity) · bo སྔོན་འགོག་གི་སྨན་འཛུགས (to provide immunity) · az calamaq (to graft by inserting buds) · az aşılamaq (to provide immunity) · sk naočkovať (to introduce into the mind) · ca inocular (to provide immunity) · fi saastuttaa (to introduce into the mind) · de inokulieren (to provide immunity) · vi chích ngừa (to provide immunity) · mi oka (to provide immunity) · az aşılamaq (to introduce into the mind) · hy պատվաստել (to provide immunity) · nl inenten (to provide immunity) · vi chích (to provide immunity) · bg ашладисвам (to graft by inserting buds) · nl enten (to add one substance to another) · sk štepiť (to graft by inserting buds) · sk naočkovávať (to introduce into the mind) · fi silmuttaa (to graft by inserting buds) · pt inocular (to provide immunity) · de okulieren (to graft by inserting buds) · az peyvənd etmək (to provide immunity) · ar لَقَّحَ (to provide immunity) · ky эмдөө (to provide immunity) · sv ympa (to provide immunity) · bo བློ་སྒོ་འབྱེད (to introduce into the mind) · vi chủng ngừa (to provide immunity) · bg ваксинирам (to safeguard as if by inoculation)

inoculate en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ɪˈnɒkjulɪt/ (UK)
• /ɪˈnɑːkjulɪt/ (General-American)

Etymology

Back-formation from inoculation, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Meanings

1. Synonym of inoculum.

Forms

Synonyms

inoculum