humoral

Meanings

1. 1adjectivebefore a nountechnicalmedical

   Relating to the old belief that health and temperament depend on four body fluids, called humors.

   Grammar: Used before a noun: humoral theory.

   Patterns

   • humoral theory
   • humoral medicine

   Ancient doctors followed humoral theory, balancing blood, phlegm, and two kinds of bile.

   The textbook explains humoral medicine in its first chapter.

   Humoral ideas shaped European medicine for centuries.

2. 2adjectivebefore a nounmedicalbiology

   Relating to the part of the immune response carried out by antibodies in blood and other body fluids.

   Grammar: Almost always with immunity or response.

   Patterns

   • humoral immunity
   • humoral response

   Humoral immunity depends on antibodies that circulate in the blood.

   Vaccines trigger a strong humoral response.

   The study measured the humoral reaction after the second dose.

Common combinations

humoral immunity

Humoral immunity protects against bacteria floating in body fluids.

humoral response

A weak humoral response may need a booster.

humoral theory

Humoral theory shaped how doctors treated patients for centuries.

humoral medicine

Humoral medicine sought a balance of the four humors.

a humoral factor

Researchers looked for a humoral factor in the blood.

Synonyms and how they differ

antibody-mediated

Antibody-mediated is the plain description of humoral immunity and is used in modern science writing.

fluid-based

Fluid-based is an ordinary way to say that something works through body fluids.

cell-mediated

Cell-mediated is the contrasting kind of immunity, driven by immune cells and not antibodies in fluids.

Opposites

Word family

humor noun

one of the four old body fluids; also amusement

humoralism noun

the old theory of four bodily humors

humorous adjective

funny or amusing; unrelated in modern meaning

Commonly confused: humoral or humorous?

Practice

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