immune-tolerant
|im-mune-to-ler-ant|
🇺🇸
/ɪˈmjun ˈtɑlɚənt/
🇬🇧
/ɪˈmjuːn ˈtɒlərənt/
tolerant of immune attack
Etymology
'immune-tolerant' is a modern English compound combining 'immune' (from Latin 'immunis') and 'tolerant' (from Latin 'tolerans', present participle of 'tolerare').
'immune' entered English via French and Late Latin from Latin 'immunis' meaning 'exempt, free from public service'; 'tolerant' came through Old French/Latin from Latin 'tolerans'/'tolerare' meaning 'to endure'. The compound form 'immune-tolerant' is a recent medical/technical formation in Modern English to describe tolerance to immune effects.
Individually, 'immune' originally meant 'exempt' and 'tolerant' meant 'able to endure'; combined in modern usage they denote 'able to endure or avoid immune attack' or the clinical state of 'immune tolerance'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
resistant to, or not provoking, a strong immune response; able to persist or function without being eliminated or damaged by the host immune system.
Some tumor cells can be immune-tolerant, allowing them to grow despite the host's defenses.
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Adjective 2
describing a clinical or biological state (often used in infectious disease) in which a pathogen or host–pathogen interaction produces high pathogen levels or persistence with minimal immune-mediated damage (e.g., the immune-tolerant phase of chronic hepatitis B).
During the immune-tolerant phase of chronic hepatitis B, patients often have high viral load but little liver inflammation.
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Last updated: 2026/01/01 17:53