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• drug
  drug

  noun

  a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.
• Drug
  Drug

  noun

  the cosmic principle of disorder and falsehood.

drug

¹ American  

[druhg] / drʌg /

noun

• drugs
  plural

1. Pharmacology. a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.

2. (in federal law)

   1. any substance recognized in the official pharmacopoeia or formulary of the nation.

   2. any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or other animals.

   3. any article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals.

   4. any substance intended for use as a component of such a drug, but not a device or a part of a device.

3. a habit-forming medicinal or illicit substance, especially a narcotic.

4. drugs,

   1. chemical substances prepared and sold as pharmaceutical items, either by prescription or over the counter.

   2. personal hygienic items sold in a drugstore, as toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.

5. Obsolete. any ingredient used in chemistry, pharmacy, dyeing, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

drugged, drugging

1. to administer a medicinal drug to.

2. to stupefy or poison with a drug.

3. to mix (food or drink) with a drug, especially a stupefying, narcotic, or poisonous drug.

4. to administer anything nauseous to.

verb phrase

1. drug up to take a drug, especially an illegal drug: athletes who drug up in the off-season.

   kids hiding under the school bleachers to drug up;

   athletes who drug up in the off-season.

idioms

1. drug on the market, a commodity that is overabundant or in excess of demand in the market. Also drug in the market.

drug ² American  

[druhg] / drʌg /

verb

Nonstandard: Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.

1. a simple past tense and past participle of drag.

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Drug ³ American  

[droog] / drʊg /

noun

Zoroastrianism.

1. the cosmic principle of disorder and falsehood.

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drug British  

/ drʌɡ /

noun

1. any synthetic, semisynthetic, or natural chemical substance used in the treatment, prevention, or diagnosis of disease, or for other medical reasons

2. a chemical substance, esp a narcotic, taken for the pleasant effects it produces

3. a commodity available in excess of the demands of the market

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verb

1. to mix a drug with (food, drink, etc)

2. to administer a drug to

3. to stupefy or poison with or as if with a drug

drug Scientific  

/ drŭg /

1. A chemical substance, especially one prescribed by a medical provider, that is used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of a condition or disease. Drugs are prescribed for a limited amount of time, as for an acute infection, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders, such as hypertension.

2. A chemical substance such as a narcotic or a hallucinogen that affects the central nervous system and is used recreationally for perceived desirable effects on personality, perception, or behavior. Many recreational drugs are used illicitly and can be addictive.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• druggy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• drugs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of drug¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English drogges (plural), from Middle French drogue, of obscure origin

Origin of Drug³

From the Avestan word drauga

Explanation

A drug is a medicine. Before you travel to India, your doctor may prescribe a drug to protect you from getting malaria. A substance that makes a change in your body is a drug. Most often, a drug is medicine prescribed by a doctor to protect a patient from illness, cure them, or relieve their pain. Drug also means an illegal substance taken simply for the way it makes the user feel. Drug is also a verb that describes both taking illegal drugs and giving someone a drug secretly, such as slipping it into their food or drink.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

drug Drug drugs drugged drugging

She says she would expand intelligence-sharing with Washington, work with U.S. agencies and the Coast Guard against drug trafficking and coordinate with Colombia to dismantle criminal groups on the border.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Ehrlich’s antisyphilis drug Salvarsan, followed by the antibacterial Prontosil, showed that systematic chemical screening could yield medicines aimed at specific diseases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

After the post circulated, Trump held a press briefing from the Oval Office to discuss drug pricing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

The work yielded streptomycin, the first effective drug against tuberculosis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

We waited for Mr. Lias at the drug store because Cold Sassy’s post office was in there, a big pigeonhole desk over where the telephone central switchboard used to be.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

Long used for weight loss and diabetes, the Food and Drug Administration has approved certain GLP-1s for additional uses, including obstructive sleep apnea, chronic kidney disease and severe fatty liver disease.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Their use as a topping for sorbets at Evett came to light after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety found online reviews accompanied by photographs.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Vera Therapeutics takes a step toward securing full Food and Drug Administration approval for its injectable kidney drug, Trutakna.

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

The Food and Drug Administration approved Shingrix, a recombinant vaccine, in 2017, and it quickly became the go-to shingles vaccine after its launch in early 2018.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Farmers nowadays find it difficult to obtain uncontaminated fodder for their milk cows, though the Food and Drug Administration forbids the presence of insecticide residues in milk shipped in interstate commerce.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Fennell is one of dozens of people suing Novo, maker of the popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, claiming the medication caused this side effect.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

These drugs can help patients manage blood sugar, lower cardiovascular risk, and, in many cases, lose a substantial amount of weight.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

Doctors are exploring whether weight-loss drugs could also treat conditions such as endometriosis and Crohn’s disease.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Kaestner emphasized that this does not prove GLP-1 drugs have no effects outside physical health.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

Other organizations, now intent on treating MDR in Russia, were still waiting for the inexpensive drugs.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Had Raynella drugged him and staged an accident?

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

"He arrived with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator," Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2025

Thousands wrote letters to suggest ways of capturing Goldie, including "get a gun that shoots a net" and "use archers to fire drugged meat into the air".

From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025

Mr. Olson was working at Fort Detrick and was unwittingly drugged with LSD in a CIA mind-control experiment that ended with him falling to his death from a New York hotel window.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2023

Matt wondered whether the Keepers had managed to wake up from their drugged sleep.

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer

With her brown bobbed haircut and round sunglasses, Pelicot has become an international feminist symbol, inspiring a change to French rape laws and a public reckoning with the problem of drugging women.

From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026

If there is widespread dog drugging, I certainly didn’t find that or hear about it, and I asked some questions along those lines.

From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024

This new information could prove to be especially useful to drug developers hoping to create a new cancer treatment by drugging this interaction.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 15, 2023

Masterson’s lawyer, Philip Cohen, told jurors in his opening statement this week that “there is no drugging charge,” The A.P. reported.

From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023

And through it all Paul slept on, the Eastern perfume in the air still drugging his sense.

From Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn

Related Words

• cure
• medicine
• narcotic
• pharmaceutical
• pill
• poison
• prescription
• remedy
• stimulant