narcotize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to subject to or treat with a narcotic; stupefy.
-
to make dull; stupefy; deaden the awareness of.
He had used liquor to narcotize his anxieties.
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of narcotize
First recorded in 1835–45; narcot(ic) + -ize
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:
Actually the soaps do not kill bacteria, they permanently "narcotize" the germs.
From Time Magazine Archive
And nevertheless he desired at present to stay in it, even though for a few days, in order that he might gaze longer upon Panna Marynia and, as he called it, "further narcotize himself."
From Whirlpools A Novel of Modern Poland by Sienkiewicz, Henryk
You may narcotize us with the sedative of your content.
From The Torch Bearer by Marquis, Reina Melcher
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
By day and by night I was surrounded with influence intended to beguile me from the past, to narcotize memory, to make me in reality the heartless, soulless, scoffing creature that I certainly seem.
From Infelice by Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
The audience necessary to sustain original and ambitious work is narcotized by algorithms or distracted by doomscrolling.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
Alongside the legendary Port Arthur duo UGK, rappers like Z-Ro, Lil’ Keke, Lil’ Troy, Paul Wall, and Lil’ Flip concocted a narcotized bang and sparkle that one can still hear in hip-hop.
From The New Yorker ● May 20, 2019
Sometimes it seems to me that young people are, indeed, entirely too quiet, too narcotized by gadgets, games and irrelevancies to notice the world is going to heck around them.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 14, 2014
We are a lazy and narcotized culture and it is hard to not just go to sleep.
From Salon ● May 10, 2013
In the theatre of University College Hospital, Mr. Liston amputated the thigh of a man, previously narcotized by the inhalation of ether vapour.
From Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign by Ashton, John
His treatments included electroconvulsive therapy, during which doctors use electric currents to spark a brain seizure, and also narcotizing drugs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2021
Among ordinary citizens, drones seem to have had a narcotizing effect, deadening the impulse to reflect on the harm they cause.
From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2018
For the NFL, the powerful narcotizing effects of gamification don’t stop there.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2013
More than almost any other TV show, the original “Beavis and Butt-Head” was a celebration of the immersive, narcotizing effect of television, of the thrills of passive consumption.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2011
The narcotizing spell had fallen suddenly from him again, and life and his future fortunes looked uninterestingly grey.
From Blue Aloes Stories of South Africa by Stockley, Cynthia
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.
