verb
-
to cover or impregnate (a wound, etc) with an ointment, cream, etc
-
to treat (a patient) with a medicine
-
to add a medication to (a bandage, shampoo, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
demedicateverb (used with object)
-
overmedicateverb (used with object)
-
premedicateverb (used with object)
-
medicativeadjective
-
unmedicatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
medicatesimple
-
medicatessimple
-
have medicatedperfect
-
has medicatedperfect
-
am medicatingprogressive
-
are medicatingprogressive
-
is medicatingprogressive
-
have been medicatingperfect progressive
-
has been medicatingperfect progressive
Past
-
medicatedsimple
-
had medicatedperfect
-
was medicatingprogressive
-
were medicatingprogressive
-
had been medicatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of medicate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin medicātus “healed,” past participle of medicāre, medicārī “to heal,” from medicus “physician”; see medical
Explanation
To medicate is to treat an illness with some kind of medicine. You might not need to medicate your bad cold, but you'll most likely need to medicate your strep throat. A doctor will medicate diseases that are diagnosed and can be treated with medicine. If your doctor, for example, decides to medicate you with antibiotics, it means she believes you have an infection caused by bacteria. Medicate comes from medication, from the Late Latin word medicari, "to medicate, heal, or cure."
Vocabulary lists containing medicate
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:
Adrian Aceves, a physician living in downtown Washington, said he'd be staying in with his five-year-old mutt Rosy, "trying to distract her with treats and toys, and I will medicate her."
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
Unfortunately, alpha-synuclein has proven an especially challenging protein to medicate due to its unruly, disorganized form and lack of clear druggable structures, Disney added.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 9, 2024
But even after getting a diagnosis, Hutchings says the response was to "medicate someone, put them in the corner, and hope they get 'better.'"
From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2023
“That’s fertile ground for the wellness industry to swoop in and say, ‘We have answers, we’re not going to medicate the symptoms, we’re going to get to the root causes.’
From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2023
“I’m angry! Why can’t you let me be angry? Why do you have to medicate away everything I feel?”
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Distracted by the recent death of his wife — whose loss he medicates by reading his sappy scribblings aloud to a rapt writing group — Sanders seems drained and becalmed.
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
Products passing through the giant site range from insulin capsules and lifestyle drugs to medicated sunblock and drums of sulphuric acid.
From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026
It’s a medicated but functioning limbo that Peet, in one of her best roles, conveys without the slightest trace of pity but with a coursing, wryly emotional intelligence that always reveals the sadness fueling it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
She said she is furious that she is having to go through an early medicated menopause because there are too many people ahead of her on the surgical waiting list.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026
He was medicated not to treat the underlying psychiatric condition, his mother said, but to keep him calm in school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
“You’ll put us under a spell? Do you have some magical words, some curse you plan to use on us now that we won’t eat your medicated sweet bread?”
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Earlier this year, England's Chief Medical Officer Prof Sir Chris Whitty said it would be a "societal failure" if medicating people for life was our only answer to obesity.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
There was a stigma associated with ADHD—such as that students who had it weren’t very bright—and they didn’t like the idea of medicating their children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
This stands in stark contrast with medicating symptoms of mood disorders or using behavioral tools to change thinking and behaviors.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2022
When it comes to taking on an actual diagnosis or making any major life changes — like medicating — consult a mental health professional.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2022
All cases that I have ever seen with great bowel distention are those coming into my care after being subjected to the usual feeding and medicating.
From Appendicitis by John Henry Tilden
Definitions 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.
