antitoxin

noun

an·​ti·​tox·​in ˌan-ti-ˈtäk-sən 

: an antibody that is capable of neutralizing the specific toxin (such as a specific causative agent of disease) that stimulated its production in the body and is produced in animals for medical purposes by injection of a toxin or toxoid with the resulting serum being used to counteract the toxin in other individuals

also : an antiserum containing antitoxins

Examples of antitoxin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The family member’s information is what led Nelson’s team to step in and help authorize giving the woman botulinum antitoxin to prevent the poison from causing further damage. —Erika Edwards, NBC News, 11 July 2024

Four of them showed symptoms consistent with the possible spread of toxin beyond the injection site and had to be treated with botulism antitoxin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release. —Muri Assunção, New York Daily News, 16 Apr. 2024

Nine were hospitalized and four were treated with botulism antitoxin because of concerns the botulinum toxin could have spread beyond the injection site. —Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 16 Apr. 2024

In other words, a book that could be a personal antitoxin against the current moment. —New York Times, 13 Apr. 2023

Word History

Etymology

anti- + toxin, probably after Italian antitossina or German Antitoxin (both perhaps calqued on German Gegengift "antidote")

Note: Probably introduced by the Italian pathologist Guido Tizzoni (1853-1932), who used the word in Tizzoni and Giuseppina Cattani, "Sulla proprietà dell'antitossina del tetano," Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Serie Quarta, Rendiconti, vol. 7 (1891), 1. semestre, pp. 333-37; and in Guido Tizzoni, "Ueber die experimentelle Immunität gegen den Tetanus," Internationale Beiträge zur wissenschaftlichen Medicin: Festschrift, Rudolf Virchow gewidmet, Band 3 (Berlin, 1891), pp. 31-60. The term antitoxin is associated with the German pathologist Emil von Behring, though its use by Behring appears to be subsequent to Tissoni's; for background see Derek S. Linton, Emil von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2005).

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

antitoxin

noun

an·​ti·​tox·​in ˌant-i-ˈtäk-sən 

: an antibody that is formed in response to a foreign and usually poisonous substance introduced into the body and that can often be produced in animals for use in treating human diseases (as tetanus)

antitoxic

-sik

adjective

Medical Definition

antitoxin

noun

an·​ti·​tox·​in ˌant-i-ˈtäk-sən 

: an antibody that is capable of neutralizing the specific toxin (as a specific causative agent of disease) that stimulated its production in the body and is produced in animals for medical purposes by injection of a toxin or toxoid with the resulting serum being used to counteract the toxin in other individuals

also : an antiserum containing antitoxins