OxyContin

[ahk-see-kahn-tn, ahk-see-kahn-tn]

Pharmacology, Trademark.

1. a brand of oxycodone.

OxyContin

/ ˌɒksɪˈkɒntɪn /

noun

1. an opiate drug, oxycodone hydrochloride, used as a painkiller and, illegally, as an alternative to heroin

Word History and Origins

Origin of OxyContin¹

First recorded in 1990–95; oxy- ² ( def. ) + contin(uous) ( def. ), perhaps after the controlled-release nature of the drug

Example Sentences

It was my junior year of high school and OxyContin was showing up everywhere, in the hallways at school, parties on the weekend and in medicine cabinets all over central Appalachia.

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OxyContin was unlike anything else.

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I don’t remember any of my first-time meetings with drugs except for OxyContin.

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He shares that he’s always liked American things, including “The Simpsons,” Captain Crunch, and, oh yeah, OxyContin.

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President Sheinbaum has also recently emphasised the demand side of the crisis, saying the US fentanyl crisis began with the legal but "irresponsible approval" of painkillers, such as OxyContin, starting in the late 1990s.

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