adjuvant

[ aj-uh-vuhnt ]

adjective

1. serving to help or assist; auxiliary:

   You'll be serving in an adjuvant capacity, on call if we need you.

2. Medicine/Medical. utilizing drugs, radiation therapy, or other means of supplemental treatment following cancer surgery or other primary cancer treatment: Compare neoadjuvant.

   The cancer was caught at such an early stage that adjuvant measures were determined to be unnecessary.

noun

1. a person or thing that aids or helps:

   a team of adjuvants.

2. Medicine/Medical, Pharmacology. anything that aids in the treatment of disease, management of pain, etc., especially a substance added to a medication to aid the effect of the main ingredient:

   For some in acute pain, caffeine is an effective analgesic adjuvant.

3. Immunology. a substance admixed with an immunogen in order to elicit a more marked immune response:

   Aluminum salts have been used as adjuvants in vaccines for many decades.

adjuvant

/ ˈædʒəvənt /

adjective

1. aiding or assisting

noun

1. something that aids or assists; auxiliary
2. med a drug or other substance that enhances the activity of another
3. immunol a substance that enhances the immune response stimulated by an antigen when injected with the antigen

Word History and Origins

Origin of adjuvant¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin adjuvant- (stem of adjuvāns, adjective use of present participle of adjuvāre ), equivalent to prefix ad- + juv- (stem of juvāre “to help”) + -ant; ad- ( def ), aid, -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of adjuvant¹

C17: from Latin adjuvāns, present participle of adjuvāre, from juvāre to help

Example Sentences

Other vaccines, for example protein subunit types, make use of an adjuvant, which is a substance that jumpstarts the immune system.

From Popular-Science

A third, from Novavax, injects a lab-made version of a coronavirus protein along with an adjuvant to stimulate the immune system.

From Popular-Science

It includes an inactivated form of the virus and an adjuvant.

From Popular-Science

It’s formulated from adjuvants and proteins produced in the leaves of a plant related to tobacco that have had viral genes introduced into them.

From Popular-Science

It does not contain many ingredients commonly found in other vaccines, such as preservatives or adjuvants, which are used to make vaccines work better — and is not manufactured in human or animal cells.

From Washington Post

Fresh air is the most important adjuvant for this that we have.

From Project Gutenberg

In certain minor affections of a spasmodic character it, therefore, forms a valuable adjuvant to other remedies.

From Project Gutenberg

It is claimed to be a reconstructive tonic and blood-making adjuvant, with favorable action in affections of the glandular system.

From Project Gutenberg

There is no scientific evidence that it has any value either alone or as an adjuvant to sandal oil.

From Project Gutenberg

How the use of yeast as an adjuvant to otherwise inadequate food mixtures exerts its beneficial effect is not yet made clear.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ancillary
• supplementary