officinal
Americanadjective
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kept in stock by apothecaries, as a drug.
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recognized by a pharmacopoeia.
noun
adjective
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(of pharmaceutical products) available without prescription
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(of a plant) having pharmacological properties
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of officinal
1710–20; < Medieval Latin officīnālis of a store or workshop, equivalent to Latin officīn ( a ) workshop, presumably contraction of opificīna ( opific-, stem of opifex artisan, equivalent to opi-, combining form akin to opus work + -fic-, combining form of facere to make, do 1 + -īna -ine 1; cf. office) + -ālis -al 1
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.
L. D.—Lavender has been an officinal plant for a considerable time, though we have no certain accounts of it given by the ancients.
From The Botanist's Companion, Volume II by Salisbury, William
The wood is valuable, its nuts are eaten by native Indians, and the sweet exudation, which gives the tree its popular name, is a manna-like substance of some officinal value.
From The Genus Pinus by Shaw, George Russell
The plants of this order are of little or no economic value, soap-wort, Saponaria officinalis, forming a lather in water was formerly officinal.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 4 "Carnegie Andrew" to "Casus Belli" by Various
The long horizontal aromatic roots a substitute for officinal Sarsaparilla.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
The dose of the authorised officinal juice is from one to two teaspoonfuls, and from five to twenty grains of the prepared extract.
From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by Fernie, William Thomas
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.
