vaccinate

verb

vac·​ci·​nate ˈvak-sə-ˌnāt 

vaccinated; vaccinating

transitive verb

: to administer a vaccine to usually by injection

intransitive verb

: to perform or practice vaccination

vaccinator

ˈvak-sə-ˌnā-tər 

noun

Examples of vaccinate in a Sentence

We vaccinate all the animals that come to our shelter.

Recent Examples on the Web

Since whooping cough is a vaccine-preventable disease, the most optimal way to significantly reduce the chances of contracting the virus is to ensure children are vaccinated and adults boosted. —Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024

The turning point in Rodgers’s public persona came in 2021, when he was asked if he’d been vaccinated against COVID-19. —Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2024

Farmers have long worried that vaccinating wildlife is expensive and burdensome, and that too few badgers could be vaccinated to slow the disease. —Byerik Stokstad, science.org, 5 Sep. 2024

The majority of cases across the U.S. this year – 87% – involved people who had not been vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. —Isabel Funk, USA TODAY, 4 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

earlier, "to inoculate with fluid from a cowpox pustule," back-formation from vaccination; in later extended sense, in part borrowed from French vacciner, verbal derivative of vaccin vaccine

First Known Use

1882, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

vaccinate

verb

vac·​ci·​nate ˈvak-sə-ˌnāt 

vaccinated; vaccinating

: to give a vaccine to usually by injection

vaccinator

-ˌnāt-ər 

noun

Medical Definition

vaccinate

1 of 2 verb

vac·​ci·​nate ˈvak-sə-ˌnāt 

vaccinated; vaccinating

transitive verb

1

: to inoculate (a person) with cowpox virus in order to produce immunity to smallpox

2

: to administer a vaccine to usually by injection

intransitive verb

: to perform or practice vaccination

vaccinate

2 of 2 noun

vac·​ci·​nate ˈvak-sə-ˌnāt  -nət 

: a vaccinated individual