Meaning & use
vaccine
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A substance that is put into the body to make it able to fight a particular disease.
Grammar: Countable: a vaccine, the vaccines. Often followed by 'for' or 'against' plus the disease.
Patterns
- a vaccine for something
- a vaccine against something
- get a vaccine
- develop a vaccine
Scientists worked quickly to develop a vaccine for the new virus.
Children receive several vaccines before they start school.
The flu vaccine is recommended for older adults every year.
Word forms
| plural | vaccines |
|---|
Common combinations
- flu vaccine
- She gets a flu vaccine every autumn.
- vaccine against
- There is no vaccine against that disease yet.
- vaccine for
- They are testing a new vaccine for malaria.
- develop a vaccine
- It took years to develop a vaccine for the virus.
- vaccine rollout
- The vaccine rollout began with healthcare workers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- immunization
- Immunization refers to the process of becoming immune, often through a vaccine; it can also refer to the shot itself, but vaccine is the substance.
- inoculation
- Inoculation is the act of introducing a vaccine into the body; it is more technical and less common in everyday speech.
Word family
- vaccinate verb
- To give someone a vaccine.
- vaccination noun
- The act of giving a vaccine or the process of being vaccinated.
Commonly confused: vaccine or vaccination?
vaccine vs vaccination
Vaccination is the act of giving the vaccine; vaccine is the substance itself. You get a vaccination, but you receive a vaccine.
Practice
The doctor said I should get a ______ to protect against the flu.
Choose one answer.
Vaccine is the correct noun for the substance that protects against a disease. 'Vaccination' is the act of giving it, 'vaccinate' is a verb, and 'vaccinated' is an adjective or past participle.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “vaccine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.