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
1 American
[druhg]
/ drʌg /
noun
-
drugs
plural
-
Pharmacology. a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.
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(in federal law)
-
any substance recognized in the official pharmacopoeia or formulary of the nation.
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any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or other animals.
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any article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals.
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any substance intended for use as a component of such a drug, but not a device or a part of a device.
-
-
a habit-forming medicinal or illicit substance, especially a narcotic.
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drugs,
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chemical substances prepared and sold as pharmaceutical items, either by prescription or over the counter.
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personal hygienic items sold in a drugstore, as toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.
-
-
Obsolete. any ingredient used in chemistry, pharmacy, dyeing, or the like.
verb (used with object)
drugged,
drugging
-
to administer a medicinal drug to.
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to stupefy or poison with a drug.
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to mix (food or drink) with a drug, especially a stupefying, narcotic, or poisonous drug.
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to administer anything nauseous to.
verb phrase
idioms
drug
2
American
[druhg]
/ drʌg /
verb
Nonstandard: Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.
Drug
3
American
[droog]
/ drʊg /
noun
Zoroastrianism.
drug
British
/ drʌɡ /
noun
-
any synthetic, semisynthetic, or natural chemical substance used in the treatment, prevention, or diagnosis of disease, or for other medical reasons
-
a chemical substance, esp a narcotic, taken for the pleasant effects it produces
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a commodity available in excess of the demands of the market
verb
-
to mix a drug with (food, drink, etc)
-
to administer a drug to
-
to stupefy or poison with or as if with a drug
drug
Scientific
/ drŭg /
-
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.
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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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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
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:
Together, the findings show how targeting harmful processes in the gut can produce beneficial effects in the liver, even though the drug acts primarily within the gastrointestinal system.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026
Maritime drones powered by sun and wind that can stay at sea for months will patrol Fiji's waters for drug traffickers and other threats under a deal with Australia announced Friday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
He will keep the pricey drug plan for now, but “it’s definitely a squeeze,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
It is also when beneficiaries can join, drop or switch between Medicare drug plans or change their Medicare Advantage plans.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
“I’m not a drug addict, you pipsqueak,” I say.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
What measures is the Food and Drug Administration taking to boost confidence in the U.S. food supply chain?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Food and Drug Administration can both stop osteoarthritis pain and prevent the structural breakdown of cartilage.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
The Weston family owns the Canadian grocery chain Loblaws, pharmacy business Shoppers Drug Mart, and previously owned the London department store Selfridges, which it sold in 2022 for $4bn.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Eli Lilly’s experimental cancer treatment, olomorasib, receives orphan drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
The activities of the Food and Drug Administration in the field of consumer protection against pesticides are severely limited by two facts.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Needham thinks Victoria’s Secret stock is poised to benefit from the increased adoption of weight-loss drugs.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The results also raise an important question about how the benefits of Alzheimer's drugs are measured.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
Around 200 protein degraders are being studied worldwide, with more than $5 billion in deals for these drugs from 2021 to 2026, according to biopharma-intelligence service Sleuth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
These companies are doing what they do best, investing in the pipelines of the future and extending the patent lives of their top-selling drugs.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
It was the year 2000, and virtually no other doctor or clinic in Haiti was treating poor patients with the most sophisticated antiretroviral drugs available on the market.
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
He spied Yossarian finally with a feeling of immense joy, and then his mouth gaped open slowly in unbearable horror as he noted Yossarian’s vivid, beaten, grimy look of deep, drugged despair.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Jeremy Lessen, one of Lavie’s criminal attorneys, has declined to comment on the drugging allegation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
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
He was in splendid health, for his insubordination had, from a very early age, saved him from drugging either mental or physical.
From Half a Century by Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm
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