decongestant
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of decongestant
Explanation
A decongestant is like a traffic cop for your sinuses, helping clear up blockage so you can breathe easier when your nose is stuffy from a cold or an allergy. Decongestants work by shrinking swollen blood vessels in your nasal passages, much like deflating a balloon that's blocking a hallway. This action helps clear the congestion, allowing air to flow more freely, so you feel less stuffy. They are like little helpers that assist you in feeling better when you have a cold or allergies. Available in forms such as pills, sprays, and drops, decongestants are handy tools for those times when you need a clear path to breathe easy again.
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:
CVS is taking off its shelves cold medicines that contain a decongestant that a Food and Drug Administration panel says doesn’t work.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 20, 2023
The popular decongestant phenylephrine is not effective, an FDA panel found.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 4, 2023
A new lawsuit accuses Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble of deceiving consumers about decongestant cold medicines containing an ingredient that a unanimous U.S.
From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2023
An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration agreed unanimously on Tuesday that a common decongestant ingredient used in many over-the-counter cold medicines is ineffective.
From New York Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
Taking a break on the porch, she began reading one of her textbooks but soon she fell asleep because of the decongestant she had taken earlier for a cold.
From Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)
Marketed as quick relief for sore throats and stubborn coughs, these sweet syrups mix sugar, colour and flavouring with a cocktail of antihistamines, decongestants, expectorants.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
You can also take over-the-counter cold and flu medicines with decongestants or cough suppressants, though the experts didn’t recommend them strongly because they don’t work for everybody and can cause drowsiness.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration declared Tuesday that an ingredient in widely used oral decongestants doesn’t work, setting the stage for dozens of products to be removed from U.S. store shelves.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2023
The FDA assembled its outside advisers to take another look at phenylephrine, which became the main drug in over-the-counter decongestants when medicines with an older ingredient - pseudoephedrine - were moved behind pharmacy counters.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
Long-term usage of spray decongestants can actually make symptoms worse, while decongestant pills do not have this problem.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
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.
