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:
The reductions became more pronounced as the dose increased.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
Strong earnings reports from SpaceX and Super Micro Computer overnight injected a dose of confidence into markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
She was not given a potentially life-saving dose of intravenous antibiotics for more than seven hours.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
The formula veers in a new direction with a dose of social commentary and elements from “The Evil Dead.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
Fear shot through Reynie like a dose of hot poison.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Pike survived her scheduled execution after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, a sedative that more than a dozen states use for capital punishment, in September.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Pike is the only inmate to ever survive after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
She survived her scheduled execution after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, a sedative that more than a dozen states use for capital punishment, in September.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Consequently, the Artemis I detectors recorded radiation doses that were distributed almost uniformly throughout the mannequins, unlike the uneven patterns observed in the earlier space station experiment.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
My hair is white-blond, and so straight and flat, there’s no way it would ever end in a curl without massive doses of hair spray.
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
Note: Each circle represents the date a Chinese treatment was granted clinical-trial approval, dosed its first patient or was granted ethics-committee approval.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
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
The friendship with Rebeca opened up to Pilar Ternera the doors of the house, dosed by Úrsula since the birth of Arcadio.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One analysis of 24 studies found D3 was more effective than D2 at improving overall vitamin D status, while another focused on frequent dosing reached a similar conclusion.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
HRS-1596 has the potential to be developed for once-weekly oral administration, which would reduce dosing frequency relative to current offerings on the market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
She tries to stay awake during her commute to uni but admits sometimes "dosing off a bit"
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
"It could improve vaccine formulation and dosing, potentially explain why some patients respond better to vaccines than others and guide strategies for making vaccines more effective."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Maman Thibaut has been dosing Amélie with café au lait at the big kitchen table.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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