verb
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to cover or impregnate (a wound, etc) with an ointment, cream, etc
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to treat (a patient) with a medicine
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to add a medication to (a bandage, shampoo, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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demedicateverb (used with object)
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overmedicateverb (used with object)
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premedicateverb (used with object)
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medicativeadjective
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unmedicatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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medicatesimple
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medicatessimple
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have medicatedperfect
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has medicatedperfect
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am medicatingprogressive
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are medicatingprogressive
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is medicatingprogressive
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have been medicatingperfect progressive
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has been medicatingperfect progressive
Past
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medicatedsimple
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had medicatedperfect
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was medicatingprogressive
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were medicatingprogressive
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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
Scott-Wright suggested placing him to sleep on his front, says Emily, and that she should medicate her son for reflux - despite Scott-Wright not seeing the baby during the consultation.
From BBC ● May 5, 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
“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
Laura Maguire, who is 25 and from Londonderry, has been put in an early medicated menopause as she awaits surgery - a wait which she has been told could take several years.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026
Jordan McDonough, a home inspector with three children who was himself medicated from childhood, is wrestling with how to help his 4-year-old son showing signs of ADHD.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
“When he had a real mild fever and we medicated him right away, he acted normal. I actually was maybe looking at it with rose-colored glasses.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
“Salted snail,” you hear yourself say in a medicated slur.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
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
Since then, the industry has reformed its horse medicating, and deaths have dropped dramatically.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2022
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
Medicā′tion, the act or process of medicating or of mixing with medicinal substances: the use of medicine.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
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.
