Allergy

//ˈæl.əɹ.d͡ʒi// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A disorder of the immune system causing adverse reactions to substances (allergens) not harmful to most and marked by the body's production of histamines and associated with atopy, anaphylaxis, and asthma; any condition of hypersensitivity to a substance. broadly
  2. 2
    hypersensitivity reaction to a particular allergen; symptoms can vary greatly in intensity wordnet
  3. 3
    A disorder of the immune system causing adverse reactions to substances (allergens) not harmful to most and marked by the body's production of histamines and associated with atopy, anaphylaxis, and asthma; any condition of hypersensitivity to a substance.; Specifically, hypersensitivity of class I in the modern classification thereof: the immunoglobulin E–mediated type. broadly
  4. 4
    An antipathy, as toward a person or activity. figuratively, informal

    "He has an allergy to reality TV."

Synonyms

All synonyms
abhorrenceabnormalityabominationacute diseaseaffectionaffliction

Example

More examples

"Constantly blowing his nose in allergy season."

Etymology

Borrowed from German Allergie. Coined by Austrian pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906 from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos, “other”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work, activity”), on the model of Energie.

Related phrases

allergy salutealpha-gal allergycold allergyfood allergylone-star-tick meat allergymammalian meat allergyoral allergy syndromered meat allergytick meat allergytick-induced meat allergytotal allergy syndromewater allergy

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.