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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

PBMs emerged as intermediaries to help health insurers steer doctors and hospitals to the cheapest drug alternatives and give insurers the concentrated heft that would afford them greater leverage in negotiations with drug manufacturers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 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

“But we do expect investigations related to drug pricing.”

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026

If some other drug relieves the symptoms of schizophrenia, then an excess of it must cause schizophrenia.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a low-cost version of a twice-yearly HIV prevention shot, bringing the breakthrough drug closer to market in low-income countries.

From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026

Experts like Tbakhi and Geldsetzer are loath to say that younger adults should all get the shingles vaccine—both affirmed that recommendations should be left to committees such as those at the Food and Drug Administration.

From Slate ● Nov. 1, 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

Drug spending is a major driver of record-setting healthcare cost increases for employers, including cancer treatments and the popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

The files of the Food and Drug Administration contain records of a disturbing number of such violations.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Hims said it has never provided compounded versions of Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

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

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

Novo Nordisk raised its annual guidance due to an improved outlook for its key obesity and diabetes 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

Wilson spent five days in the hospital before heading home on many of the same high-priced drugs that Miele would be taking and under similar instructions to change his diet and exercise regularly.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Van Houten said his office did not bring charges at the time because he had only seen a statement from Doe implying the incident was consensual and that she had not been drugged.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

For Episode 6, Deming made great use of a small lab set, where Reilly wrestles with emotional demons after being drugged.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

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

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

From "Native Son" by Richard Wright

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

Be it drugging or diplomatic incidents, bad behavior or political upheaval, the event rarely unfurls in exactly the way the International Olympic Committee so fervently hopes.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2021

Now, in 1858, he has a very large family, many of whom have either arrived at maturity or nearly so; and the whole family have, for many years, been strangers to dosing and drugging.

From Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

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Related Words

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