English Explanatory Dictionary

narcotic

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any substance or drug that reduces pain, induces sleep and may alter mood or behaviour; in some contexts, especially in reference to the opiates-and-opioids class, especially in reference to illegal drugs, and often both.
  2. Any type of numbing or soothing drug.
adj
  1. Of, or relating to narcotics.
  2. Inducing sleep; causing narcosis.

Pronunciation

/nɑːˈkɒtɪk/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-narcotic.wav /nɑɹˈkɑtɪk/ [nɑɹˈkɑɾɪk] /nɐːˈkɔtɪk/ /nɐːˈkɒtək/ [nɐːˈkɔ̟tək]

Word forms

narcotic narcotics narcotick more narcotic most narcotic

Etymology

From Middle English narcotyk, from Middle French narcotique (from Old French narcotique, noun use of adjective) and directly from Medieval Latin narcōticum, from Ancient Greek ναρκωτῐκόν (narkōtĭkón), neuter of ναρκωτῐκός (narkōtĭkós), from Ancient Greek ναρκόω (narkóō, “to benumb”), from νάρκη (nárkē, “numbness, torpor”).

Synonyms

narcotics

Related words

narco- narcosis narcoterrorism narcotize

Derived words

antinarcotic anti-narcotic narcotics nonnarcotic non-narcotic subnarcotic counternarcotic electronarcotic narcotically narcoticize
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on N Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary