ANTITOXIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does antitoxin mean? 

• ANTITOXIN (noun)
  The noun ANTITOXIN has 1 sense:

1. an antibody that can neutralize a specific toxin

  Familiarity information: ANTITOXIN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANTITOXIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An antibody that can neutralize a specific toxin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("antitoxin" is a kind of...):

antibody (any of a large variety of proteins normally present in the body or produced in response to an antigen which it neutralizes, thus producing an immune response)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "antitoxin"):

antivenene; antivenin (an antitoxin that counteracts the effects of venom from the bite of a snake or insect or other animal)

tetanus antitoxin (antitoxin given for short-term immunization against tetanus in cases of possible exposure to the tetanus bacillus)

Derivation:

antitoxic (counteracting a toxin or poison)

 Context examples 

C diphtheriae is commensal in the skin and nasopharynx, but toxin producing strains are pathogenic to humans causing diphtheria; both an antitoxin and vaccine are available for disease prevention.

(Corynebacterium diphtheriae, NCI Thesaurus)

Treatment may include antitoxins, intensive medical care, or surgery of infected wounds.

(Botulism, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

It includes the use of sera, antitoxins, vaccines, genes, cells, tissues, and organs.

(Biological therapy, NCI Thesaurus)

A substance made from living organisms or things they produce, for example: virus, therapeutic serum, toxin, antitoxin, vaccine, blood, blood component or derivative, allergenic product, or analogous product.

(Biological agent, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)