Meaning & use
immunosuppression
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountablemedicaltechnical
The process of reducing or stopping the body's immune response, often deliberately with drugs.
Grammar: Uncountable, so it does not take 'a' or a plural: say 'immunosuppression is needed', not 'an immunosuppression'.
Patterns
- immunosuppression after something
- immunosuppression caused by something
- treatment with immunosuppression
After the kidney transplant, the patient needed long-term immunosuppression to prevent rejection.
The doctor explained that immunosuppression can make it harder to fight off infections.
Certain diseases, like HIV, cause severe immunosuppression.
noununcountablemedical
The state of having a weakened immune system, whether from disease, drugs, or other causes.
Grammar: Also uncountable; often used after 'cause', 'lead to', or 'result in'.
Patterns
- cause immunosuppression
- lead to immunosuppression
- severe immunosuppression
Chemotherapy often leads to immunosuppression, so patients must avoid crowds.
The study found that malnutrition can result in immunosuppression.
People with immunosuppression are advised to get flu shots regularly.
Common combinations
- cause immunosuppression
- Some medications can cause immunosuppression as a side effect.
- induce immunosuppression
- Doctors may induce immunosuppression to treat autoimmune diseases.
- severe immunosuppression
- Severe immunosuppression requires careful monitoring.
- immunosuppression therapy
- Immunosuppression therapy is common after organ transplants.
Synonyms and how they differ
- immunodepression
- A less common technical synonym, often used in scientific literature.
Opposites
Word family
- immunosuppressant noun
- A drug that causes immunosuppression.
- immunosuppressive adjective
- Describing something that causes immunosuppression.
- immunosuppressed adjective
- Having a weakened immune system due to immunosuppression.
Commonly confused: immunosuppression or immunodeficiency?
immunosuppression vs immunodeficiency
Immunodeficiency is a reduced ability to fight infections due to a defect in the immune system, while immunosuppression is often caused by external factors like drugs.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'immunosuppression' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Immunosuppression' is uncountable, so it does not take 'an' or a plural form. Option 1 is correct because it uses the uncountable noun without an article. Option 2 is wrong because 'an' is used with countable singular nouns. Option 3 is wrong because 'immunosuppression' cannot be pluralized. Option 4 is grammatically possible but changes the meaning to multiple drugs, which is not the issue here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “immunosuppression”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.