variants or less commonly preexposure
: occurring, administered, used, or being in the period preceding exposure (as to a stimulus or a pathogen)
pre-exposure rabies vaccination
Canon has also added a red-eye reduction pre-exposure light … Herbert Keppler
see also pre-exposure prophylaxis
pre-exposure noun
Rats differ from monkeys and chicks in that simultaneous pre-exposure to two stimuli does facilitate their subsequent discrimination … R. A. Hinde

Examples of pre-exposure in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Sullivan, whose work focuses on HIV surveillance, compared the government’s actions to, effectively, destroying the road map to determining who in America most needs screening, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and treatment. Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2025 In 2023, more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children, were on antiretroviral therapy with help from the program, and almost 2 million were newly enrolled on pre-exposure preventative medications. Belinda Luscombe, TIME, 29 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pre-exposure was in 1906

Dictionary Entries Near pre-exposure

Cite this Entry

“Pre-exposure.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pre-exposure. Accessed 18 Feb. 2025.

Medical Definition

pre-exposure

adjective
variants preexposure
: of, relating to, occurring in, or being the period preceding exposure (as to a stimulus or a pathogen)
pre-exposure immunization
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