inoculate
inoculate Lexical Profile
inoculate Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To treat (a person or animal) with a vaccine or antigenic substance in order to stimulate immunity against a specific infectious disease.
"Public health officials worked tirelessly to inoculate the entire village against measles before the rainy season began."
To protect or forearm (someone) against harmful ideas, influences, or future setbacks by prior exposure or preparation.
"Teaching media literacy early can help inoculate students against online misinformation."
To introduce (cells or microorganisms) into a culture medium or living tissue to grow or reproduce (in microbiology).
"The technician used a sterile wire loop to inoculate the agar plate with the bacterial sample."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Inoculate' is frequently misspelled with double 'n' or double 'c' due to false analogy with 'innocuous'; it has only one 'n' and one 'c', deriving from the Latin word for 'eye' or 'bud' (oculus).
• Rhymes for inoculate
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in Middle English from Latin 'inoculatus', the past participle of 'inoculare' ('to graft a bud or eye of one plant into another'), formed from 'in-' ('into') and 'oculus' ('eye, bud'). Its medical sense arose in the early 18th century by analogy between inserting a plant bud beneath bark and introducing infectious matter beneath the skin to confer immunity.