gateway drug
noun
Simple meaning
An addictive substance that is seen as relatively harmless by itself, but is believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
gaytwaydruhgSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡeɪtweɪdɹəɡ
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.
noun
An addictive substance that is seen as relatively harmless by itself, but is believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances.
by extensionfigurative
Any thing or area of interest that tends to lead to deeper involvement.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An addictive substance that is seen as relatively harmless by itself, but is believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances.
Used this way, gateway drug is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.