dose
Americannoun
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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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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)
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
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.
Dose of reality: As winter snow thawed in March and April, the ground turned muddy.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2023
Fluzone High Dose and Fluad are available only for people 65 and older.
From Washington Post • Dec. 12, 2022
Dose sparing is a strategy for vaccinating more people by giving them smaller doses of vaccine.
From Scientific American • Aug. 17, 2022
Rodriguez' self-incriminating information was corroborated by fellow rioter Jackson Kostolsky, who had listed Rodriguez in his cell phone as "New Sammy Dose."
From Salon • Jul. 26, 2022
Even on Earth, the skin of a Colombian golden poison frog had a waaaaay lower LD50—the Lethal Dose needed to kill 50% of a test population.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
