Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Inoculation with a vaccine in order to protect against a particular disease.
  • noun A scar left on the skin by vaccinating.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In medicine, inoculation with vaccine, or the virus of cowpox, as a preventive of smallpox; in an extended sense, inoculation with the virus of any specific disease.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act, art, or practice of vaccinating, or inoculating with the cowpox, in order to prevent or mitigate an attack of smallpox. Cf. inoculation.
  • noun Any inoculation intended to raise immunity to a disease.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Inoculation with a vaccine in order to protect a particular disease or strain of disease

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the scar left following inoculation with a vaccine
  • noun taking a vaccine as a precaution against contracting a disease

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin vacca ("cow"). The term was coined by Edward Jenner (1749-1823) who infected people with weakened cowpox viruses to immunise them against the disease.

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Examples

  • The word vaccination comes from the Latin word vaccinae meaning “of the cow.”

    Vaccine Science 2010

  • "What do you mean by what you call the vaccination dodge?"

    Weapons of Mystery Joseph Hocking 1898

  • While he emphasized, in an e-mail exchange, that increased vaccination is still the best way to lower the pertussis rates at present, in the long run public health officials can't avoid facing the evidence of bacterial mutation and "should strive for pertussis vaccines that protect longer."

    Whooping cough makes a comeback Arthur Allen 2010

  • In the U.S. vaccination is not routinely recommended and, in fact, the vaccine is not available.

    Vaccine Schedules 2010

  • While he emphasized, in an e-mail exchange, that increased vaccination is still the best way to lower the pertussis rates at present, in the long run public health officials can't avoid facing the evidence of bacterial mutation and "should strive for pertussis vaccines that protect longer."

    Whooping cough makes a comeback Arthur Allen 2010

  • A: One of the most compelling arguments for flu vaccination is to provide herd immunity.

    Facts About Swine Flu 2009

  • • Incidence rate of cervical cancer with Cervarix vaccination is 9/100,000 per year -- better than with Gardasil, but still more than with screening alone.

    Marcia G. Yerman: An Interview with Dr. Diane M. Harper, HPV Expert Marcia G. Yerman 2010

  • A: One of the most compelling arguments for flu vaccination is to provide herd immunity.

    Facts About Swine Flu 2009

  • • Incidence of cervical cancer without screening and without vaccination is nearly 90/100,000 per year.

    Marcia G. Yerman: An Interview with Dr. Diane M. Harper, HPV Expert Marcia G. Yerman 2010

  • A: One of the most compelling arguments for flu vaccination is to provide herd immunity.

    Facts About Swine Flu 2009

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