barbiturate
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of barbiturate
First recorded in 1925–30; barbitur(ic) + -ate 2
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.
The publication also quotes a medical expert who observed that pentobarbital, the single-drug barbiturate used in Black’s execution, “should cause rapid unconsciousness. It sounds like this did not occur.”
From Slate • Aug. 8, 2025
Some switched to using a single drug, the barbiturate pentobarbital, which is a sedative and anticonvulsant often used before surgeries or to treat epilepsy.
From Scientific American • Sep. 23, 2022
But conspiracists wondering why the deputy medical examiner who performed the autopsy found no barbiturate residue in the 36-year-old movie star’s stomach if she ingested the drugs orally were disappointed by the answers.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 4, 2022
In 1962, movie star Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found dead in her Los Angeles home; her death was ruled a probable suicide from “acute barbiturate poisoning.”
From Washington Times • Aug. 5, 2020
Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 17, 2016
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.
