immunity Hear it!

immunity Definition

im·mu·nity (i myo̵̅o̅n′ə tē)

noun pl. -·ties

  1. exemption or freedom from something burdensome or otherwise unpleasant, as a legal obligation
  2. resistance to or protection against a specified disease; power to resist infection, esp. as a result of antibody formation

Etymology: ME ynmunite < OFr immunité < L immunitas, freedom from public service < immunis: see immune

immunity Synonyms

immunity

n.

  1. Exemption

    freedom, privilege, license; see freedom 2.

  2. Freedom from disease

    resistance, immunization, protection, active immunity, passive immunity; see also safety 1, vaccination 2. See syn. study at exemption.

immunity Law Definition

n

  1. An exemption from a duty or penalty.
  2. A permanent status, as for a diplomat, exempting one from being sued or prosecuted for certain actions.
  3. A special status, granted by a prosecutor, exempting a witness from being prosecuted for the acts to which he or she testifies.
sovereign immunity
The doctrine (subject to certain exceptions) that a government may not be sued in its own courts or in courts of another nation or level of government; many limitations on this doctrine apply and vary from state to state.  Sometimes referred to as governmental immunity.
transactional immunity
A grant of immunity to a witness by a prosecutor that exempts the witness from being prosecuted for the acts about which the witness will testify.
use immunity
A grant of immunity to a witness by a prosecutor, under which the prosecutor promises not to use the witness’ testimony against him or her, but reserves the right to prosecute the witness for the underlying action.
immunity Usage Examples

Preposition: from

  • prosecution: Crown Immunity Limited immunity from prosecution given to certain arms of the state in specific circumstances.
  • punishment: Immunity from punishment was secured through the absence of local law.

Converse of object

  • confer: Medical school education is likely to confer lifelong immunity 1.
  • mediate: Research Patricia's main research interest is the study of T cell mediated immunity.
  • lower: The elderly often suffer from poor circulation and lowered immunity and Ginkgo works well on both counts.
  • induce: In other words, it seems that breast-feeding induces local immunity in the urinary tract.
  • boost: In fact, being a carrier helps boost natural immunity.
  • pre-exist: Because the virus is new, the human immune system will have no pre-existing immunity.

Adjective modifier

  • cell-mediated: Cell-mediated immunity in horses with sarcoid tumors against sarcoid cells in vitro.
  • innate: Prof Luke O'Neill provided a keynote talk on the functioning of innate immunity at the mucosal barrier.
  • humoral: It is the phenomenon of humoral immunity that makes immunization possible.
  • mucosal: Its expression is especially high in the Paneth cells in the small intestine, which play a major role in the mucosal immunity.
  • diplomatic: Seagoon: You mean... Bloodnok: Yes, I have diplomatic immunity!
  • sovereign: The King's preliminary challenge, on the grounds of sovereign immunity, was upheld.

Noun used with modifier

  • anti-trust: Star Alliance members Air Canada, Lufthansa German Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and United Airlines currently hold anti-trust immunity.
  • herd: The findings implied benefits for herd immunity from natural infection against herpes zoster in adults.
  • T-cell: T-cell immunity is known to be important in maintaining VZV in a latent state.
  • blanket: The first possible solution is blanket immunity for ISP activities.
  • crown: We also welcome the proposal to remove crown immunity.
  • noise: If you still have problems with noise immunity check the supply voltage.
immunity Quotes

The greatest deliberative body in the world†has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity.

—Smith, Margaret Chase

Sleep demands of us a guilty immunity. There is not one of us who, given an eternal incognito, a thumbprint nowhere set against our souls, would not commit rape, murder and all abominations.

—Barnes, Djuna