PASSIVE IMMUNITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does passive immunity mean? 

• PASSIVE IMMUNITY (noun)
  The noun PASSIVE IMMUNITY has 1 sense:

1. an impermanent form of acquired immunity in which antibodies against a disease are acquired naturally (as through the placenta to an unborn child) or artificially (as by injection of antiserum)

  Familiarity information: PASSIVE IMMUNITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PASSIVE IMMUNITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An impermanent form of acquired immunity in which antibodies against a disease are acquired naturally (as through the placenta to an unborn child) or artificially (as by injection of antiserum)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("passive immunity" is a kind of...):

acquired immunity (immunity to a particular disease that is not innate but has been acquired during life; immunity can be acquired by the development of antibodies after an attack of an infectious disease or by a pregnant mother passing antibodies through the placenta to a fetus or by vaccination)