medication
Americannoun
-
the use or application of medicine.
-
a medicinal substance; medicament.
noun
-
treatment with drugs or remedies
-
a drug or remedy
Other Word Forms
- antimedication adjective
- hypermedication noun
- overmedication noun
Etymology
Origin of medication
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin medicātiōn- (stem of medicātiō ). See medicate, -ion
Explanation
If your doctor prescribes something for you to take, it's medication. Medication is another way to say "medicine" or "drug." Your poison ivy rash might be so bad that you need to take medication to stop the itching. People need medication for all sorts of illnesses and disorders throughout their lives, from headache medication to medication for cancer treatment. In the fifteenth century, the word meant "medical treatment of a disease or wound," from the Latin medicationem, "healing or cure," with its root in medicus, which means both "healing" and "physician."
Vocabulary lists containing medication
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Pharmacy Words
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The Boy in the Black Suit
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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.
Eventually, after 16 months, her skin improved and resolved without any medication, a pattern she says doctors would not normally expect to see if it was severe eczema.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
She has been medication free for a year and says she still gets flare ups but that her condition is improving.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
As new options pop up, patients have more control over how they take the medication and how they pay for it.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026
Tepezza is currently the only FDA-approved medication for the condition.
From Barron's • Apr. 6, 2026
They’d grown painfully intense—like she’d been forced to withdraw from a life-saving medication.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
