narcotize

American  

[nahr-kuh-tahyz] / ˈnɑr kəˌtaɪz /

especially British, narcotise

verb (used with object)

narcotized, narcotizing

1. to subject to or treat with a narcotic; stupefy.

2. to make dull; stupefy; deaden the awareness of.

   He had used liquor to narcotize his anxieties.

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verb (used without object)

narcotized, narcotizing

1. to act as a narcotic.

   a remedy that does not heal but merely narcotizes.

narcotize British  

/ ˈnɑːkəˌtaɪz /

verb

1. (tr) to place under the influence of a narcotic drug

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Other Word Forms

• narcotization
  noun

Etymology

Origin of narcotize

First recorded in 1835–45; narcot(ic) + -ize

Example Sentences

Actually the soaps do not kill bacteria, they permanently "narcotize" the germs.

From Time Magazine Archive

They appeared to me, though, as if pursuing something beyond Gain, which should narcotize or stimulate them to forget that man's life was a vain going to and fro.

From The Morgesons by Stoddard, Elizabeth

His grandfather was a conservative bourgeois of a superior type, who was the author of treatises designed to narcotize the forces of rebellion of his time.

From The Glands Regulating Personality by Berman, Louis, M.D.

The warm air and the glow of the beautiful rooms seemed to narcotize her, and Rose allowed herself to be led away like a sleepy child.

From Rose of Dutcher's Coolly by Garland, Hamlin

There have been.—Lawrence!" the scent of the honeysuckle pinned into her blouse seemed to narcotize all his senses with its irresistible sweetness, "you will be true to me, won't you?

From Nightfall by Pryde, Anthony