antiseptic
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Related to the state of being free of pathogenic organisms.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
antuhsehptikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æntəˈsɛptɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or relating to antisepsis or the use of antiseptics.
Thoroughly clean and free of or destructive to disease-causing organisms
pharmacology
Capable of preventing microbial infection.
Free of unpleasantness; prim, sanitized or bowdlerized.
Very clean; aseptic.
noun
pharmacology
Any substance that inhibits the growth and reproduction of microorganisms. Generally includes only those that are used on living objects (as opposed to disinfectants) and aren't transported by the lymphatic system to destroy bacteria in the body (as opposed to antibiotics).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Thoroughly clean and free of or destructive to disease-causing organisms
Used this way, antiseptic is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in medicine or healthcare contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Careful and exacting
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.