Advertisement

View synonyms for drug

drug

1

[ druhg ]

noun

  1. Pharmacology. a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.
  2. (in federal law)
    1. any substance recognized in the official pharmacopoeia or formulary of the nation.
    2. any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or other animals.
    3. any article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals.
    4. any substance intended for use as a component of such a drug, but not a device or a part of a device.
  3. a habit-forming medicinal or illicit substance, especially a narcotic.
  4. drugs,
    1. chemical substances prepared and sold as pharmaceutical items, either by prescription or over the counter.
    2. personal hygienic items sold in a drugstore, as toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.
  5. Obsolete. any ingredient used in chemistry, pharmacy, dyeing, or the like.


verb (used with object)

, drugged, drug·ging.
  1. to administer a medicinal drug to.
  2. to stupefy or poison with a drug.
  3. to mix (food or drink) with a drug, especially a stupefying, narcotic, or poisonous drug.
  4. to administer anything nauseous to.

verb phrase

  1. Informal. to take a drug, especially an illegal drug: athletes who drug up in the off-season.

    kids hiding under the school bleachers to drug up;

    athletes who drug up in the off-season.

drug

2

[ druhg ]

verb

, Nonstandard: Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.
  1. a simple past tense and past participle of drag.

Drug

3

[ droog ]

noun

, Zoroastrianism.
  1. the cosmic principle of disorder and falsehood.

drug

/ drʌɡ /

noun

  1. any synthetic, semisynthetic, or natural chemical substance used in the treatment, prevention, or diagnosis of disease, or for other medical reasons pharmaceutical
  2. a chemical substance, esp a narcotic, taken for the pleasant effects it produces
  3. drug on the market
    a commodity available in excess of the demands of the market
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


verb

  1. to mix a drug with (food, drink, etc)
  2. to administer a drug to
  3. to stupefy or poison with or as if with a drug
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

drug

/ drŭg /

  1. A chemical substance, especially one prescribed by a medical provider, that is used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of a condition or disease. Drugs are prescribed for a limited amount of time, as for an acute infection, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders, such as hypertension.
  2. A chemical substance such as a narcotic or a hallucinogen that affects the central nervous system and is used recreationally for perceived desirable effects on personality, perception, or behavior. Many recreational drugs are used illicitly and can be addictive.


Discover More

Derived Forms

  • ˈdruggy, adjective
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of drug1

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English drogges (plural), from Middle French drogue, of obscure origin

Origin of drug2

From the Avestan word drauga
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of drug1

C14: from Old French drogue, probably of Germanic origin
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. drug on the market, a commodity that is overabundant or in excess of demand in the market. Also drug in the market.
Discover More

Example Sentences

Clark said she apologized for letting her try out in the first place when the cheer handbook had a zero-tolerance drug policy that called for a ban the following season.

These treatments include cheap and readily available drugs like dexamethasone and hydrocortisone, which can cut the risk of dying in very sick patients by a third.

From Vox

The department plans to negotiate in 2021 with the Fraternal Order of Police that they expand random drug testing to make sure every officer is tested at least once a year.

From Vox

This isn’t unusual for drug companies to withhold information about a potential medication that has yet to reach the market.

Earlier this year, the US Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which requires manufacturers to report real or potential drug shortages to the FDA.

A passing off-duty school safety officer named Fred Lucas said that he had been told the man was a drug dealer.

Did he go to the authorities to file a report against the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel?

He also was working to recruit Castro as a driver for a drug load.

And so the same creeping rot of the rule of law that the administration has inflicted on immigration now bedevils our drug laws.

“They know there are drug spots,” said Wanda Williams, who was out for a walk with her son.

But green Chartreuse unhappily is not innocent; it is more than a spirit, it is a powerful drug.

Five years later he was drawing a large salary, and at the age of thirty he had opened a retail drug store of his own.

Each cachet contained three decigrams of malourea, the insidious drug notorious under its trade name of Veronal.

Then the drug was coaxed between the stricken man's teeth, and presently he opened his eyes once more.

Rashid, the attendant, knew all Kazmah's clients, and with the box or flask he gave them a quantity of the required drug.

Advertisement

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


drudgeworkdrug abuse