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inoculate

ino·cu·late

UK/ɪˈnɒkjulɪt/ US/ɪˈnɑːkjulɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

introduce an idea or attitude into the mind of

  • “My teachers inoculated me with their beliefs”
2.

introduce a micro-organism into

3.

perform vaccinations or produce immunity in by inoculation

  • “We vaccinate against scarlet fever”
  • “The nurse vaccinated the children in the school”
Synonyms
4.
5.

impregnate with the virus or germ of a disease in order to render immune

Origin

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).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.