dose
Americannoun
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doses
plural
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a quantity of medicine prescribed to be taken at one time.
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a substance, situation, or quantity of anything analogous to medicine, especially of something disagreeable.
Failing the exam was a hard dose to swallow.
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an amount of sugar added in the production of champagne.
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Physics.
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Also called absorbed dose. the quantity of ionizing radiation absorbed by a unit mass of matter, especially living tissue, measured in grays: although increasingly disfavored, in the U.S. an absorbed dose may still be measured in rads.
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Slang. a case of gonorrhea or syphilis.
verb (used with object)
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doses,
present (3rd person singular)
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dosed,
past participle, past
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dosing
present participle
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to administer in or apportion for doses.
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to give a dose of medicine to.
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to add sugar to (champagne) during production.
verb (used without object)
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doses,
present (3rd person singular)
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dosed,
past participle, past
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dosing
present participle
noun
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med a specific quantity of a therapeutic drug or agent taken at any one time or at specified intervals
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informal something unpleasant to experience
a dose of influenza
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Also called: dosage. the total energy of ionizing radiation absorbed by unit mass of material, esp of living tissue; usually measured in grays (SI unit) or rads
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Also called: dosage. a small amount of syrup added to wine, esp sparkling wine, when the sediment is removed and the bottle is corked
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slang a venereal infection, esp gonorrhoea
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very quickly indeed
verb
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to administer a dose or doses to (someone)
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med to give (a therapeutic drug or agent) in appropriate quantities
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(often foll by up) to give (someone, esp oneself) drugs, medicine, etc, esp in large quantities
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to add syrup to (wine) during bottling
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dosesimple
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dosessimple
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have dosedperfect
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has dosedperfect
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am dosingprogressive
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are dosingprogressive
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is dosingprogressive
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have been dosingperfect progressive
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has been dosingperfect progressive
Past
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dosedsimple
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had dosedperfect
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was dosingprogressive
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were dosingprogressive
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had been dosingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dose
First recorded in 1590–1600; French , from Late Latin dosis, from Greek dósis “a giving, gift,” derivative of didónai “to give”
Explanation
A dose is the amount of medicine you're supposed to take. A bottle of aspirin has the recommended dose printed on its side. When your doctor prescribes medication, she tells you what dose you should take, whether it's one pill twice a day or two teaspoons just before bedtime. You can also get a dose of something else: having x-rays gives you a small dose of radiation, for example, and watching the news instead of your favorite cartoon can be said to give you a dose of reality. The Greek root of dose is dosis, "a portion prescribed."
Vocabulary lists containing dose
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:
It has long been known that air travel at high altitudes exposes people to cosmic radiation, but the dose for most travellers is regarded as statistically insignificant, external.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Currently the lowest dose Wegovy pill available is 1.5 milligrams for the starter dose, with patients able to work their way up to the highest 25-milligram dose over time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
At a low dose, the drug primarily works by reducing several harmful compensatory responses that occur when the heart is struggling.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Half received a low dose of digoxin in addition to their usual treatment for an average of three years, while the other half received a placebo.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
“We also heard you gave them a dose of their own medicine,” said Zayd with a huge grin.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
Doctors could potentially use this type of information to identify people who might benefit from additional vaccine doses, more careful follow-up or other protective strategies.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
"Trying to vaccinate wild populations is almost impossible, partly because you need two doses of the vaccine," Todd told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
The study, which began last week and will run into 2028, has enrolled 450 overweight people and will test two low doses of the pill compared to a placebo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
John Hamilton, of Ark Vet Centre in Lockerbie, said they had 20,000 doses of the vaccine in stock at the start of the week but "that disappeared over 48 hours".
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
But at smaller doses, the results are less certain.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Direct-to-patient likely won’t be a sales channel for complex and pricey biotech drugs, particularly those dosed in healthcare facilities, according to industry officials and analysts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
Intellia had disclosed late last month that the patient, a man in his early 80s with a heart disease called ATTR-cardiomyopathy, had been hospitalized due to liver problems weeks after being dosed with nex-z.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025
This summer's recovery from back surgery has been more dosed in reality, though.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2025
The pins, and the dosed paper that resulted, followed a compact grid, which took the form of five tight rows of 20 columns each—the “5-20” pattern slyly referred to above.
From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2024
Her arms dosed over the swell of her belly.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
It turned out farmers had also been dosing their cattle to enable them to plow through the heat of the midday sun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Although most incidents involved accidental dosing or therapeutic mistakes rather than intentional misuse, the sheer size of the increase surprised the research team.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
She also noted the risk of contamination and a lack of dosing standardization, which apply to all peptides people are buying online without prescriptions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
Veradermics also assessed hair count per square centimeter, finding that both dosing regimens increased hair count by at least 30 hairs per square centimeter, compared with 7.3 hairs per square centimeter for the placebo group.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026
Maman Thibaut has been dosing Amélie with café au lait at the big kitchen table.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
