emetic
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of emetic
1650–60; < Latin emeticus < Greek emetikós, equivalent to émet ( os ) vomiting + -ikos -ic
Explanation
An emetic is a medicine or potion that makes you vomit, which you might be given if you've taken poison or some other harmful substance. You can also use the word emetic in a more figurative sense to describe anything that makes you feel sick — the motion of a boat rocked by a storm could easily be an emetic, and the tuna sandwich the guy sitting next to you on the bus has just unwrapped might also be an emetic for everyone sitting nearby.
Vocabulary lists containing emetic
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Kindred
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The Suffix -ic, Part 4
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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.
It’s as if the very name of the man has on her an emetic effect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
In those days, the only available cure was tartar emetic, a compound of antimony that was administered as 12–16 injections given once a week.
From Nature ● Nov. 7, 2017
Winners: Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith Forget the cry-laugh: Inside No 9’s creators perfected the vomit-laugh with an emetic twist in the season three episode The Riddle of the Sphinx.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 8, 2017
Lee was more like the National Antidote—probably she would have preferred emetic, or gag reflex, something that expressed her unwillingness to humor the Chamber of Commerce or our contemporary age of ubiquity and oversaturation.
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2016
To bring them into balance, Dr. Harlow prescribes two powerful drugs—an "emetic" to make Phineas throw up and a "purgative," a powerful laxative, to evacuate his bowels.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
