analgesic

American  

[an-l-jee-zik, -sik] / ˌæn lˈdʒi zɪk, -sɪk /

noun

analgesics plural

1. a remedy that relieves or allays pain.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or causing analgesia, or the relief of pain.

analgesic British  

/ -sɪk, ˌænəlˈdʒiːzɪk /

adjective

1. of or causing analgesia

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noun

1. a substance that produces analgesia

analgesic Scientific  

/ ăn′əl-jē′zĭk /

1. A drug used to eliminate pain; a painkiller. Aspirin and acetaminophen are analgesics.

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analgesic Cultural  

1. A drug, such as aspirin, that relieves pain in the body.

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Usage

What does analgesic mean? An analgesic is a remedy that reduces or relieves pain. It especially refers to pain relief medicine, such as acetaminophen. Analgesics also include drugs known as NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), such as ibuprofen. Analgesic can also be used as an adjective describing things that have pain-relieving effects, as in the analgesic properties of certain herbs. Analgesic comes from the word analgesia, which means a lessening of pain or the absence of pain. Example: Aspirin is a well-known and commonly used analgesic.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• analgesics
  plural

Etymology

Origin of analgesic

First recorded in 1870–75; analges(ia) + -ic

Explanation

An analgesic is a medicine that takes away physical pain. If you ask for pain relief, and the nurse says "Here's an analgesic," she's not trying to worsen your headache with a difficult word; she's just giving you a painkiller. Breaking apart the word analgesic helps with pronunciation, ann-ull-JEE-zick. This isn't a proper root-word study, but the last three letters of the word look like "sick." If you're sick and have some pain and discomfort, you might get relief from an analgesic. As a noun, analgesic is the actual medicine, and as an adjective, it describes the effect of the medicine — a pill will have an analgesic effect, relieving the pain — unless it's really bad pain, in which case you'll need two.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

analgesic analgesics

When we look at relaxing paintings, we actually activate our pain analgesic response.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026

There's this much reported case of a woman who suffered from convulsions after taking a medicine for diabetes which had a similar sounding name to an analgesic she had been prescribed.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2025

“In an earlier study, we reported that for the analgesic ketamine, pain relief correlates negatively with how strongly connected two regions of the default mode network are before the drug’s administration,” explains Ueno.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024

And so there is no analgesic for the moral injury that comes with realizing that Canadian McDonald’s have decided American Big Macs are simply too small for their liking.

From Slate ● Sep. 7, 2023

As a rule this sort of light inhalation serves to produce the desired analgesic effect.

From The Mother and Her Child by Sadler, William S.

“Multiple days of treatment are often required, and antibiotics and analgesics may also be administered to treat secondary infection and control pain,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

When it comes to analgesics, always consult your physician first.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2025

"This is a potentially valuable target for new development of analgesics," he said.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2023

He had left the court at one point Wednesday to receive anti-inflammatories and analgesics, he said.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 7, 2022

Many of the synthetical coal-tar products now so largely employed as analgesics are powerful toxic agents.

From Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology by Robertson, W. G. Aitchison (William George Aitchison )