humoral

adjective

hu·​mor·​al ˈhyü-mə-rəl How to pronounce humoral (audio)
ˈyü-
1
: of, relating to, proceeding from, or involving a bodily humor (such as a hormone)
2
: relating to or being the part of immunity or the immune response that involves antibodies secreted by B cells and circulating in bodily fluids

Examples of humoral in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Hippocrates was guided in his thinking by the theory of humoral medicine, which posited that there are four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile), which must be balanced for good health. Nina Elkadi, JSTOR Daily, 2 Oct. 2024 For nearly two thousand years, the body's physical health was based on humoral theory, a belief that heavily influenced both Western and Eastern medicine. Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2023 B cells, also known as humoral cells, are a type of immune cell that make antibodies and are made in the bone marrow. Tasnim Ahmed, CNN, 10 Mar. 2022 The early focus in vaccine development and immunity surveillance has been heavily weighted toward neutralizing antibodies (the humoral response) because historically they are well understood and easy to measure. WSJ, 12 Jan. 2022 Current understanding dictates that much of the body’s ability to prevent infection comes from the humoral response; it’s now been very well documented that successive variants of SARS-CoV-2 evade by mutations primarily in the Spike protein. William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2022 Medieval scholars thought the plague arose from causes both universal (unfortunate astrological conjunctions) and particular (corrupted airs and humoral imbalances). Spencer Strub, The New York Review of Books, 25 Mar. 2020 But universities didn’t teach much more than Christian theology, philosophy and humoral theory, which still dominated medical thinking even though it was first popularized in Ancient Greece. Olivia Campbell, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Mar. 2021 Even in the early and mid-19th century, physicians were still using humoral theory and competing with homeopaths and botanists for patients; surgeons were a crude last resort. Jordan Kisner, The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of humoral was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near humoral

Cite this Entry

“Humoral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humoral. Accessed 24 Nov. 2024.

Medical Definition

humoral

adjective
hu·​mor·​al ˈ(h)yüm-(ə-)rəl How to pronounce humoral (audio)
1
: of, relating to, proceeding from, or involving a bodily humor (as a hormone)
humoral control of sugar metabolism
2
: relating to or being the part of immunity or the immune response that involves antibodies secreted by B cells and circulating in bodily fluids
humoral immunity
humoral immune response
humoral system of immunity
compare cell-mediated
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!