| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| allergy, allergen (nn.), allergenic, allergic (adjs.) |
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| An allergy is “a hypersensitivity to a food, dust, pollen, or other element.” Someone with an allergy (or who has an allergy) is said to be allergic. An allergen is a substance that causes an allergy or an allergic reaction in people. Allergenic is the adjectival form of allergen: The allergenic substance is unidentified. | 1 |
| Purists have objected to the transferred and figurative senses of allergic, meaning “to have an aversion to or dislike for” and applied to all sorts of nonmedical matters: She says she’s allergic to Wagner; she can’t stand his operas. Despite their arguments, it and the other three words are Standard in their figurative uses, just as they continue to be in their older, technical senses. Still, you would be well-advised to limit some of the figurative uses to Semiformal and Informal writing and to the Conversational levels of speech. | 2 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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