verb
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to cover or impregnate (a wound, etc) with an ointment, cream, etc
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to treat (a patient) with a medicine
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to add a medication to (a bandage, shampoo, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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demedicateverb (used with object)
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overmedicateverb (used with object)
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premedicateverb (used with object)
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medicativeadjective
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unmedicatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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medicatesimple
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medicatessimple
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have medicatedperfect
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has medicatedperfect
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am medicatingprogressive
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are medicatingprogressive
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is medicatingprogressive
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have been medicatingperfect progressive
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has been medicatingperfect progressive
Past
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medicatedsimple
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had medicatedperfect
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was medicatingprogressive
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were medicatingprogressive
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had been medicatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of medicate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin medicātus “healed,” past participle of medicāre, medicārī “to heal,” from medicus “physician”; see medical
Explanation
To medicate is to treat an illness with some kind of medicine. You might not need to medicate your bad cold, but you'll most likely need to medicate your strep throat. A doctor will medicate diseases that are diagnosed and can be treated with medicine. If your doctor, for example, decides to medicate you with antibiotics, it means she believes you have an infection caused by bacteria. Medicate comes from medication, from the Late Latin word medicari, "to medicate, heal, or cure."
Vocabulary lists containing medicate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Logan attempts to medicate him so that he and Caliban can rest, but Xavier fights him off, falls out of his wheelchair and has a telepathic seizure that begins to affect everyone around him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Adrian Aceves, a physician living in downtown Washington, said he'd be staying in with his five-year-old mutt Rosy, "trying to distract her with treats and toys, and I will medicate her."
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
Unfortunately, alpha-synuclein has proven an especially challenging protein to medicate due to its unruly, disorganized form and lack of clear druggable structures, Disney added.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 9, 2024
But even after getting a diagnosis, Hutchings says the response was to "medicate someone, put them in the corner, and hope they get 'better.'"
From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2023
“I’m angry! Why can’t you let me be angry? Why do you have to medicate away everything I feel?”
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Distracted by the recent death of his wife — whose loss he medicates by reading his sappy scribblings aloud to a rapt writing group — Sanders seems drained and becalmed.
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
Products passing through the giant site range from insulin capsules and lifestyle drugs to medicated sunblock and drums of sulphuric acid.
From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026
Jordan McDonough, a home inspector with three children who was himself medicated from childhood, is wrestling with how to help his 4-year-old son showing signs of ADHD.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
“When he had a real mild fever and we medicated him right away, he acted normal. I actually was maybe looking at it with rose-colored glasses.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
This is Wells’ first IUD, so she can’t compare a medicated insertion to an unmedicated one.
From Slate ● Sep. 7, 2025
“Neither do you. You know a medicated version of him who’s got you fooled—who had himself fooled until now. I’m telling you, he’s going to pop.”
From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin
Earlier this year, England's Chief Medical Officer Prof Sir Chris Whitty said it would be a "societal failure" if medicating people for life was our only answer to obesity.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
There was a stigma associated with ADHD—such as that students who had it weren’t very bright—and they didn’t like the idea of medicating their children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
This stands in stark contrast with medicating symptoms of mood disorders or using behavioral tools to change thinking and behaviors.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2022
California officials in mid-February detailed their strategy for the next chapter of the pandemic, laying out a seven-part plan dubbed SMARTER, for shots, masks, awareness, readiness, testing, education and “Rx,” or medicating with anti-COVID drugs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2022
Ministering to their temporal wants as well, clothing, feeding, medicating these unfortunate people, visiting their hospitals as well as those of the army, Mrs. Porter remained at Memphis and in its vicinity until June, 1863.
From Woman's Work in the Civil War A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience by Henry W. Bellows
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
