narcotic
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Any type of numbing or soothing drug.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nahrkahtikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
nɑɹˈkɑtɪk
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
Any type of numbing or soothing drug.
pharmacology
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.
adjective
Of or relating to or designating narcotics
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any type of numbing or soothing drug.
Used this way, narcotic is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It keeps things gentle rather than emphatic.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Calm and reassuring
- Usage feel
- Understated and gentle
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An antagonist used to counteract the effects of narcotics (especially to counteract the depression of respiration).
A lawman concerned with narcotics violations.
The commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that is concerned with drug traffic.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: any type of numbing or soothing drug
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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.