immunity

English

Etymology

From Old French immunité, from Latin immunitas, in the legal sense; for the medical use see immunization.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɪˈmjuːnəti/

Noun

immunity (countable and uncountable, plural immunities)

  1. (uncountable) The state of being insusceptible to something; notably:
    1. (medicine) Fully protective resistance against infection.
      Some people have better immunity to diseases than others.
    2. (law) An exemption from specified duties, such as payments or services.
      Feudal privileges often included tax and other immunities.
    3. (law) An exemption from prosecution.
      The prosecutor offered the lieutenant immunity for all the crimes he would testify having known to be planned by the elusive drug baron.
    4. (in games and competitions) An exemption given to a player from losing or being withdrawn from play.
      After winning the last round the player was granted immunity which allowed him to stay in the game even after receiving the fewest points.
  2. (countable) A resistance to a specific thing.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.