medication
Americannoun
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the use or application of medicine.
-
a medicinal substance; medicament.
noun
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treatment with drugs or remedies
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a drug or remedy
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of medication
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin medicātiōn- (stem of medicātiō ). See medicate, -ion
Explanation
If your doctor prescribes something for you to take, it's medication. Medication is another way to say "medicine" or "drug." Your poison ivy rash might be so bad that you need to take medication to stop the itching. People need medication for all sorts of illnesses and disorders throughout their lives, from headache medication to medication for cancer treatment. In the fifteenth century, the word meant "medical treatment of a disease or wound," from the Latin medicationem, "healing or cure," with its root in medicus, which means both "healing" and "physician."
Vocabulary lists containing medication
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Pharmacy Words
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The Boy in the Black Suit
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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:
Long-term services and support include medical and personal-care services like medication management and help with bathing, dressing, eating, walking and toileting.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
As with all prescriptions, it is up to care providers to determine whether a medication is right for a particular patient.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Other factors, including physical activity, overall health, medication use, genetics, and lifestyle, could also have influenced the findings.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
The medication, which was first developed 15 years ago, can result in increased height if administered during growth spurts.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
One of the fluorescent lights had started flickering halfway through class, exacerbating the pain, and Moss was eager to dart over to his locker and get his medication.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
Type 2 diabetes can sometimes be put into remission by eating a healthy diet and keeping slim without needing to rely on glucose-lowering medications.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Millions of Americans have tried or are taking GLP-1 medications like Novo’s Wegovy or Lilly’s Zepbound in recent years.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
But even a short gap can mean skipped medications, delayed appointments or untreated symptoms that become urgent and potentially more serious than they would otherwise have been.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
The FDA team probed everything from Taylor’s irrigation water to portable restrooms on farms and medications provided to members of the company’s harvest crews.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
A good number of medications have the property that they’re demonstrably better than nothing, but not by much.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
