pharmacist

American  

[fahr-muh-sist] / ˈfɑr mə sɪst /

Also pharmaceutist

noun

1. a person licensed to prepare and dispense drugs and medicines; druggist; apothecary; pharmaceutical chemist.

   Synonyms:

   chemist

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pharmacist British  

/ ˌfɑːməˈsjuːtɪst, ˈfɑːməsɪst /

noun

1. a person qualified to prepare and dispense drugs

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Etymology

Origin of pharmacist

First recorded in 1825–35; pharmac(y) + -ist

Explanation

When you're sick and need prescription medication, it's a pharmacist who prepares it for you, answers your questions about it, and sells it to you. You can also ask your pharmacist to recommend the best over-the-counter cough drops. If you decide to be a pharmacist, you'll need to study pharmacy, a field of science that's all about making and dispensing safe medicine that works the way it's supposed to. Pharmacists take a lot of chemistry classes to understand how drugs work, and they also study human anatomy and physiology to learn about the way people's bodies react to medicine. In some places, your pharmacist can also give you vaccinations.

Example Sentences

Organizations representing pharmacists counter that there is not a shortage of trained pharmacists, and that the upcoming National Pharmacist Workplace Study has data to support this view.

From Washington Post • Mar. 30, 2023

Pharmacist Temi Fabiyi told the BBC: "If people cannot test, they cannot isolate, and I'm afraid the infection rate might keep rising."

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2022

Pharmacist Bilal Ahmad said more than 36 essential medications had run out and many others had expired.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 15, 2021

Pharmacist Shabbir Damani, 46, runs six branches of Halls the Chemist across Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

From BBC • Dec. 8, 2021

“Here it is. Renault, Jerome E. Son of James R. Pharmacist at Blake’s. The kid’s a freshman, birthday—let’s see, he just turned fourteen. Oh—his mother died last spring. Cancer.”

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

Related Words

• pharmacologist