narcotic
/nɑːˈkɒtɪk
/noun
1An addictive drug affecting mood or behaviour, especially an illegal one: cultivation of a plant used to make a popular local narcotic...
- And they happily spent millions on promoting the idea that cannabis was an extremely dangerous, addictive narcotic, that would kill, or drive users insane.
- Federal law supersedes state law, and the government refuses to budge in classifying marijuana as a dangerous, illegal narcotic - and a gateway to harder drugs - with no medical value.
- Buprenorphine is a daily oral medication that effectively blocks the action of heroin and other narcotics.
1.1 Medicine A drug which induces drowsiness, stupor, or insensibility, and relieves pain: pethidine, usually given as an injection, is a narcotic which causes drowsiness...
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are preferable to narcotics for pain relief.
- Who should not be prescribed narcotics for chronic pain?
- Her addiction to prescription narcotics stemmed from chronic pain due to osteoporosis.
Synonyms
soporific drug, opiate, sleeping pill, soporific;
painkiller, pain reliever, analgesic, anodyne, palliative, anaesthetic;
tranquillizer, sedative
informal downer
dated sleeping draught
literary nepenthes
rare stupefacient, stupefactive
adjective
Relating to or denoting narcotics or their effects or use: the substance has a mild narcotic effect...
- They worry that repeated prescriptions for large doses of narcotic painkillers will attract unwanted attention from the government.
- It is a seed that is wrapped in leaves and chewed for its mild narcotic effect.
- The smallest possible dose of a tranquilizer or narcotic medicine should be used.
Synonyms
soporific, sleep-inducing, opiate, hypnotic;
painkilling, pain-relieving, analgesic, anodyne, anaesthetic, stupefying, numbing, dulling, tranquillizing, sedative, calming
rare stupefacient, stuporific, stupefactive
Derivatives
narcotically
- This song is a promising opener, a dubby, narcotically blissed track that swirls and reverberates in a deeply pleasurable style.
- So at least clearly I wasn't narcotically dependent on it.
- While the epitome of professionalism and concentration whilst playing, between songs the band appear almost narcotically relaxed.
narcotism
/ noun ...- Till the middle 70s, in some regions of the country narcotism was usual, but publicly not realized occurrence.
- In particular, the the matter concerned the measures on suppression of distribution of narcotism and AIDS.
- If no further information is available on the certificate, we query to determine if there was an overdose associated with the narcotism and the type of addiction associated with the narcotism.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French narcotique, via medieval Latin from Greek narkōtikos, from narkoun 'make numb'.