medicine

[med-uh-sin, med-suhn]

noun

1. any substance or substances used in treating disease or illness; medicament; remedy.

   Synonyms: physic, pharmaceutical, drug, medication

2. the art or science of restoring or preserving health or due physical condition, as by means of drugs, surgical operations or appliances, or manipulations: often divided into medicine proper, surgery, and obstetrics.

3. the art or science of treating disease with drugs or curative substances, as distinguished from surgery and obstetrics.

4. the medical profession.

5. (among North American Indians) any object or practice regarded as having magical powers.

verb (used with object)

medicined, medicining 

1. to administer medicine to.

medicine

/ ˈmɛdsɪn, ˈmɛdɪsɪn /

noun

1. any drug or remedy for use in treating, preventing, or alleviating the symptoms of disease

2. the science of preventing, diagnosing, alleviating, or curing disease

3. any nonsurgical branch of medical science

4. the practice or profession of medicine

   he's in medicine

5. something regarded by primitive people as having magical or remedial properties

6. to accept a deserved punishment

7. an unpleasant experience in retaliation for and by similar methods to an unkind or aggressive act

medicine

1. The scientific study or practice of diagnosing, treating, and preventing diseases or disorders of the body or mind of a person or animal.

2. An agent, such as a drug, used to treat disease or injury.

Other Word Forms

• antimedicine adjective
• supermedicine noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of medicine¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English medicin, from Latin medicīna (ars) “healing (art),” feminine of medicīnus “pertaining to a physician,” from medic(us) “physician” ( medical ) + -īnus -ine ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of medicine¹

C13: via Old French from Latin medicīna ( ars ) (art of) healing, from medicus doctor, from medērī to heal

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. give someone a dose / taste of his / her own medicine, to repay or punish a person for an injury by use of the offender's own methods.

2. take one's medicine, to undergo or accept punishment, especially deserved punishment.

   He took his medicine like a man.

see dose of one's own medicine; take one's medicine.

Example Sentences

Megan Hardy, who refers to herself as a "medicine woman" and is in charge of the session with Mr Dods, also takes a smaller dose of both drugs ahead of the ritual.

Read more on BBC

In four new studies published in ACS journals, researchers reveal how food waste can offer eco-friendly tools for agriculture and new sources of beneficial compounds for medicine.

Read more on Science Daily

"There is no such field as captivity medicine, and we are inventing it," said Dr Steinman told the BBC on Saturday, after the team learned the identities of the hostages they would be treating.

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It was my junior year of high school and OxyContin was showing up everywhere, in the hallways at school, parties on the weekend and in medicine cabinets all over central Appalachia.

Read more on Salon

Otherwise, the next time a pandemic strikes, we could find ourselves reliant on foreign adversaries for lifesaving medicines.

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Related Words

• antibiotic 
• cure 
• drug 
• medication 
• pharmaceutical 
• pill 
• prescription 
• remedy