This week’s theme
This pandemic in five words

This week’s words
zoonosis
fomites
asymptomatic
Typhoid Mary
vaccinate




This week’s comments
AWADmail 947

Next week’s theme
Words that appear to be misspellings

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(VAK-si-nayt)

MEANING:

verb tr., intr.:
1. To administer a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease.
2. To immunize against something.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin vacca (cow), because in the beginning the cowpox virus was used against smallpox. Earliest documented use: 1803.

NOTES:

Don’t vacillate when it’s time to vaccinate. But until a COVID-19 vaccine appears, the next best thing is to wear a mask. Some are resistant to the idea, so we see billboards with encouraging messages: “Real Heros Wear Masks”
No, wearing a mask does not make you a hero. Neither is having to wear a mask some sort of tyranny any more than having to wear a seat belt is. But if you need a medal, we can nominate you for a Presidential Medal of Freedom. They are going cheap these days.

USAGE:

“‘You’re right. Laura and I are taking it slowly, that’s all. She’s come as a surprise to me.’
‘Because you thought you’d vaccinated yourself against getting serious,’ his father said sardonically.”
Janice Kay Johnson; To Love a Cop; Harlequin; 2015.

See more usage examples of vaccinate in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: