immune means exempt; not subject to.
immune is pronounced /ɪˈmjuːn/.
Why “immune” is a great word
Protected from or resistant to a particular disease, or more generally, not subject to or affected by something. From Middle English, from Middle French immun, from Latin immūnis ("exempt from public service"), from in- ("not") + mūnus ("service, duty"). Unlike "exempt," which denotes a legal release from an imposed rule or liability, or "susceptible," which implies a ready openness to influence or harm, immune describes an inherent, often biological fortress of the self. It is the child who watches the chicken pox sweep through her classroom untouched, the heart's quiet dismissal of a former love’s new name, or the ancient oak that stands while lightning splits its neighbors—a profound, almost insulting untouchability forged in silence.
Etymology
From Middle English, from Middle French immun, from Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service”), from in- (“not”) + mūnus (“service”).
adj
- Exempt; not subject to.e.g.“As a diplomat, you are immune from prosecution.”
- Protected by inoculation, or due to innate resistance to pathogens.e.g.“I am immune to chicken pox.”
- Not vulnerable.e.g.“Alas, he was immune to my charms.”
- Of or pertaining to immunity.e.g.“immune system”
noun
- A person who is not susceptible to infection by a particular diseasee.g.“Susceptibles effectively exposed to cases become cases in the next time period; cases recovering from the infection accumulate as immunes.” — 1965, Rene J. Dubos, James G. Hirsch, editors, Bacterial and Mycotic Infections of Man, page 742:
verb
- To make immune.e.g.“In the seventies those who met me did not know / Of the vision / That immuned me from the chillings of mis-prision […]” — 1917, Thomas Hardy, In the Seventies:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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