pharmacist
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing pharmacist
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ist
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Pharmacy Words
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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:
David Pope, a pharmacist who voted affirmatively for other peptides, voted “no” on this one, citing a complex regimen and “potentially dangerous downstream consequences.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Panel member Elizabeth Rebello, a pharmacist and anesthesiologist, told the committee she had voted no "because of the lack of efficacy data" and "safety concerns."
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Alec Ginsberg, a fourth-generation pharmacist who owns C.O.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
"People should talk to their doctor, pharmacist or nurse if they have any concerns or experience any side effects."
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
They also found a letter Holmes had written to the pharmacist in his drugstore.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said the government is "making the most of our highly skilled pharmacists, while boosting access to services and giving patients more care right on their doorstep".
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
“I feel like our home is a love letter to my upbringing,” she says, referring to her parents, who were both pharmacists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
“Medical directors failed to prevent inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs,” and “nursing home pharmacists failed to identify medical concerns and did not recommend dose reductions.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
Across the country, worried parents and students have been trying to get the jab privately, but pharmacists told the BBC they have either run out of stock or are down to their last supplies.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
Today PIH runs eleven clinics and hospitals, and it provides jobs for more than 5,400 Haitians—doctors, nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, and counselors.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
