opium
Americannoun
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the dried, condensed juice of a poppy, Papaver somniferum, that has a narcotic, soporific, analgesic, and astringent effect and contains morphine, codeine, papaverine, and other alkaloids used in medicine in their isolated or derived forms: a narcotic substance, poisonous in large doses.
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anything that causes dullness or inaction or that soothes the mind or emotions.
noun
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the dried juice extracted from the unripe seed capsules of the opium poppy that contains alkaloids such as morphine and codeine: used in medicine as an analgesic
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something having a tranquillizing or stupefying effect
Etymology
Origin of opium
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek ópion poppy juice, equivalent to op ( ós ) sap, juice + -ion diminutive suffix
Vocabulary lists containing opium
East Asia - High School
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The Middle East and Central Asia - High School
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Chinese History - Middle School and High School
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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.
The Los Angeles Times ran a particularly snarky article around the time of the 1943 concert that dismissed the singer as “an opium of emotionalism.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 20, 2025
So, when the anti-opium movement tried to constrain the British Empire from selling opium, the British deflected the blame onto the Chinese demand for it.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2024
British subversion and battlefield mastery not only effectively ended China’s opium prohibition, but it facilitated the British acquisition of Hong Kong.
From Salon • Oct. 19, 2023
They have improved domestic security through crackdowns on armed groups such as the Islamic State, and say they are fighting corruption and opium production.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 13, 2023
After a second Opium War, the Tientsin Treaties legalized the ravaging opium trade, legalized a British-French-American control of China’s customs.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
