Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Allergic |
AllergicAdjective1. Characterized by or caused by allergy; "an allergic reaction". 2. Having an allergy or peculiar or excessive susceptibility (especially to a specific factor); "allergic children"; "hypersensitive to pollen". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "allergic" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1960. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
An allergy is an immune system response to something which is not directly dangerous to the body. The term was coined by Viennese paediatrician Baron Clemens von Pirquet in 1906, from the Greek words allos meaning changed or altered state and ergon meaning reaction or reactivity. He observed the exaggerated immune responses of some of his patients, and concluded that they were a response to outside allergens such as dust, pollen, or certain foods.The most basic allergy symptoms are similar to those of a common cold - snuffling, itchy eyes, and sneezing. An allergy can also cause skin rashes, hives or weals such as contact dermatitis or eczema; these are often caused in reaction to medications.
Hay fever is one example of a very common minor allergy - large percentages of the population suffer from hayfever symptoms in response to airborne pollen. Asthmaticss are often allergic to dust mites.
Most allergies are minor annoyances, but they are not something to take lightly. An allergy can also be extremely life-threatening if it is severe, causing anaphylactic shock and a total shutdown of the airways, circulation and every function of the body.
Treatment
The only known fundamental treatment for allergy is hyposensibilization. Other medication, such as by antihistamines and cortisone, has the effect of reducing the symptoms.
Allergy causation
Recent research has shed some light on the mechanism by which many allergies operate, but this is by no means the whole story; some causative factors and allergenic pathways have yet to be explained. One common mechanism seems to be that insufficient stimulation of the immune system at certain critical points in the development of the body leads to a surfeit of "proto-immune" cells which have not been activated by the presence of genuine invasive pathogens to become true antibodies. Once past puberty, the immune system becomes "fixed", with the majority of activated antibodies established such that everyday pathogens provoke no response. However the unactivated ones remain, waiting for a unusual and potentially more serious invader. Minor irritants, or even the body's own waste products, can then trigger an antibody reaction in these cells which then incorrectly become primed to recognise these minor irritants as major invaders. A further exposure to these irritants then provoke a substantial and unwarranted immune response from the incorrectly programmed antibodies. It is the symptoms of this exaggerated response that is seen as the allergic reaction.
Many common allergies such as asthma have seen huge increases in the years since the second world war, and many studies appear to show a correlation between this and our increasingly affluent and therefore clean lifestyles in the west. This is supported by studies in less developed countries that do not enjoy western levels of cleanliness, and similarly do not show western levels of incidences of asthma and other allergies. During this same period, air quality, at one time considered the "obvious" cause of asthma, has shown a considerable improvement. This has lead some researchers to conclude that it is our "too clean" upbringing that is to blame for the lack of immune system stimulation in early childhood. Many children have a natural tendency, for example, to consume soil - a practice that often provokes an equally natural tendency in parents to stop them. However, it appears that this may have a valuable function in priming the immune system, and is one way to ensure that allergies are less likely to develop in later life.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Allergy."
Synonyms: AllergicSynonyms: hypersensitised (adj), hypersensitive (adj), hypersensitized (adj), sensitised (adj), sensitized (adj), supersensitised (adj), supersensitive (adj), supersensitized (adj). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I'm allergic to timber (Lake Placid; writing credit: David E. Kelley) I'm allergic. (The Faculty; writing credit: David Wechter; Bruce Kimmel) You're allergic to dancing (Can't Hardly Wait; writing credit: Deborah Kaplan; Harry Elfont) I've got an idea for a story about a guy in a yellow jumpsuit who's allergic to floors (Project G.e.e.K.e.R.; writing credit: Frédéric D'Onfs; Olivier Langlois) Yes, I'm allergic to steel (Cité des enfants perdus, La; writing credit: Gilles Adrien; Jean-Pierre Jeunet) | |
Lyrics | I'm allergic to flowers and bugs (Draft Dodger Rag; performing artist: Phil Ochs) | |
Clever | What trivia fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is most ironic? He was allergic to carrots. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | So You Think You're Allergic (1945) Allergic to Love (1944) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Hypersensitivity rash due to penicillin, skin of arm. Allergy, allergic. Credit: CDC. |  | Severe hypersensitivity reaction due to penicillin, skin of face. Allergy, allergic. Credit: CDC. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Grater 1" by Erika Thorpe Commentary: "Well there's nothing much to say it's just a cheese grater....the irony of this object is that I'm allergic to dairy products so I use it not for cheese but for grating carrots." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Kutapressin can elicit allergic reactions. (references) | |
Many people with asthma are allergic to dust mites. (references) | ||
Patients allergic to penicillin are given erythromycin. (references) | ||
Economic History | Hungary | According to market insiders, products with natural substances are projected to have good sales potential in the near future due to their slowly rising popularity among Hungarians and to the high number of people with allergic reactions to certain chemicals. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Allergic" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.20% of the time. "Allergic" is used about 250 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.2% | 248 | 18,908 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.8% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 250 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "allergic": allergic alveolitis ♦ Allergic Conjunctivitis ♦ allergic coryza ♦ allergic eczema ♦ allergic reaction ♦ Allergic Rhinitis ♦ Allergic Sinusitis ♦ allergic to ♦ allergic to cats ♦ allergic to pollen ♦ allergic to study ♦ allergic to work ♦ be allergic to ♦ contact allergic dermatitis ♦ extrinsic allergic alveolitis ♦ occupational allergic eczema ♦ type I allergic reaction ♦ type IV allergic reaction. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "allergic": allergic-type. | |
Ending with "allergic": anti-allergic, food-allergic, non-allergic. | |
Containing "allergic": Anti-Allergic Agents, Anti-Allergic and Respiratory System Agents. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "allergic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | allergies. (various references) | |
Albanian | alergjik, që nuk duron. (various references) | |
Arabic | مثير للاستهداف, نفور من, حساسي, تجاوبي, إستهدافي. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | свръхчувствителен (hypersensitive, neurotic, supersensitive, tremulous), алергичен. (various references) | |
Chinese | 过敏 (allergy). (various references) | |
Czech | alergický. (various references) | |
Danish | allergisk. (various references) | |
Dutch | allergisch. (various references) | |
Esperanto | alergia. (various references) | |
Finnish | allerginen. (various references) | |
French | allergique. (various references) | |
German | allergisch. (various references) | |
Greek | αλλεργικόσ, αλλεργικός (atopic). (various references) | |
Hebrew | אלרגי. (various references) | |
Hungarian | allergiás. (various references) | |
Icelandic | ofnæmis-, með ofnæmi-. (various references) | |
Indonesian | alergis, alergi (allergy), sangat peka. (various references) | |
Italian | allergico. (various references) | |
Korean | 알레르기성. (various references) | |
Manx | allerjagh. (various references) | |
Papiamen | alérgiko. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | allergicay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | alérgico. (various references) | |
Russian | аллергический. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | alergičan. (various references) | |
Spanish | alérgico. (various references) | |
Swedish | allergisk. (various references) | |
Turkish | alerjik (hypersensitive). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | що має відразу, алергичний. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "allergic": nonallergic. (additional references) | |
| |
"Allergic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Alberico, Alberigo, alergic, Allardice, allegrio, allerg, allerge, allerged, allergeic, ellagic, ilersic, palargic. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "allergic" (pronounced uler"jik) |
| 3 | -j i k | analogic, biologic, demagogic, geologic, gynecologic, illogic, lethargic, logic, magic, neurologic, nonstrategic, nostalgic, paraplegic, pelagic, quadriplegic, strategic, technologic, tragic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-g-i-l-l-r" | |
-1 letter: glacier, gracile. | |
-2 letters: cagier, caller, cellar, eclair, gallic, garlic, giller, glaire, grille, lacier, recall. | |
-3 letters: agile, areic, argil, argle, ariel, cager, carle, cella, celli, ceria, cigar, clear, erica, glace, glair, glare, glial, grace, grail, grill, ileac, ileal, iller, lacer, lager, large, legal, liger, lilac, regal, relic, rille. | |
-4 letters: acre, ager, alec, aril, cage, call. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-g-i-l-l-r" | |
+1 letter: cellaring, recalling. | |
+2 letters: allergenic, marcelling, parcelling, prelogical. | |
+3 letters: allegorical, callipering, generically, nonallergic, overcalling, rheological, serological, viceregally. | |
+4 letters: argillaceous, calligrapher, clatteringly, curveballing, extralogical, interglacial, metrological, necrological, neurological, petrological, reallocating, synergically. | |
+5 letters: algebraically, allegorically, allergenicity, archeological, calligraphers, calligraphies, candlelighter, categorically, centrifugally, cryogenically, dendrological, disgracefully, embryological, energetically, ergonomically, geometrically, geotropically, graphemically, interglacials, lethargically, metallurgical, mineralogical, nonallergenic, numerological, panegyrically, phrenological, praxeological, prebiological, precancelling, precollegiate, recalculating, rechallenging, rechannelling, revictualling, rheologically, serologically, stereological, strategically, teratological. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
