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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

inoculate.

To introduce an antigenic substance or vaccine into something (e.g. the body) or someone, such as to produce immunity to a specific disease.

9 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɪˈnɒkjuleɪt/UK/ɪˈnɑːkjuleɪt/General-American
  1. To introduce an antigenic substance or vaccine into something (e.g. the body) or someone, such as to produce immunity to a specific disease.

    transitive
  2. To safeguard or protect something as if by inoculation.

    broadly · transitive
    Her upbringing overseas inoculated her against prejudice.
  3. To add one substance to another.

    transitive
    The culture medium was inoculated with selenium to investigate the rate of uptake.
  4. To graft by inserting buds.

    transitive
    to inoculate the bud of one tree or plant into another
    to inoculate a tree
  5. To introduce into the mind (used especially of harmful ideas or principles).

    figuratively · transitive
    to inoculate someone with treason or infidelity
Where this word comes from

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).

noun/ɪˈnɒkjulɪt/UK/ɪˈnɑːkjulɪt/General-American
  1. Synonym of inoculum.

Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.