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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

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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

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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

"This research is an example of precision medicine, as we work to identify who can benefit from this drug the most."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026

Before examining more specifics about CVS, it’s proper to look at the condition of the drug retail sector generally.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Beyond the settlement, investors also await the launch of the stroke-prevention drug asundexian in the U.S. and data from rival product milvexian, the analysts add.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

There have also been local media reports of the price of the drug rising and increased demand in some pharmacies, especially in the capital, Nairobi.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

A doctor in Boston had invented a new drug to treat leukemia.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Moderna did not share sales figures for mFlusiva or its RSV vaccine, which was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2024.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

Yet only a few AI-native biotechs—such as Insilico Medicine and Generate Biomedicines—have gotten drugs into late-stage patient testing and the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t cleared any of them yet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local investigators have questioned several people about the circumstances of her death.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

The Food and Drug Administration plans to release the results of a study on mifepristone safety in March.

From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026

Even at that point, in 1957, the Food and Drug Administration could not instantly rescind the tolerance which allowed residues of a known carcinogen to contaminate food consumed by the public.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

There is no approved vaccine but the World Health Organization said experts have recommended adding two new candidate drugs to an ongoing clinical trial.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

The cost of medical care and prescription drugs is increasing, and healthcare spending has largely outpaced inflation over the last 15 years, according to new research from the Health Care Affordability Lab at Yale University.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026

Drugmakers are certainly using AI—even to come up with new drugs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

Inflation and economic pressure have led more Americans to eat at home or turn to fast food for a cheaper option, while the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic has curbed customers’ appetites.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

What most surprised many analysts was that, in both studies, whites were actually more likely than people of color to be carrying illegal drugs or contraband in their vehicles.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

He also said there was a lack of proof that the Alexanders drugged women.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 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

Death for the terminally ill can often be cruel and slow, physicians told the BBC, with the patient's final days spent slipping in and out of a drugged consciousness.

From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2023

The warm room lulled his blood and a deepening sense of fatigue drugged him with sleep.

From "Native Son" by Richard Wright

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

An hour dragged out its weary length, and the half of another while he reasoned with himself, drugging his conscience and his judgment alike with trust in his lucky star.

From The Destroying Angel by Louis Joseph Vance

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