painkiller
Americannoun
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painkillers
plural
noun
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an analgesic drug or agent
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anything that relieves pain
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of painkiller
Explanation
A painkiller is a medicine that's used to dull or relieve pain, like the painkiller your dad gives you when you have a bad headache. Painkillers are meant to do exactly what their name says: to kill pain. You can also call this kind of medication an analgesic. These range from aspirin and acetaminophen, which are sold over the counter to treat minor aches and pains, to powerful anesthetics administered by doctors before surgery. If you get your wisdom teeth removed, you'll most likely need a painkiller during and after the procedure.
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:
Scientific research has not identified causality between taking the painkiller and the development of those conditions in children.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
The painkiller is usually prescribed for relatively minor conditions, such as aching joints or people recovering from surgery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
A decade of loyalty card data across 211 million transactions in an unnamed chain of high street stores in England found paracetamol was the most common painkiller bought alongside tampons and sanitary towels.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
He previously wrote about Samsung from Seoul, but in prior stints at the Journal's New York, Atlanta and Chicago offices, he covered Wall Street's biggest buyers, painkiller addiction, airlines and food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
“Mom said you should remember to take your painkiller, Kambili,” she said.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Josh said the GP "found nothing wrong", prescribing more painkillers and referring him to an optician, where again no issue was found.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
In Pasadena, volunteers at the restaurant Chamo Venezuelan Cuisine collected supplies, issuing a special plea for bandages, gauze, painkillers and other over-the-counter medicines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
The deal includes 4E’s pipeline of oral MNK inhibitors, an emerging class of non-opioid painkillers that target a biological pathway within a patient’s nerve endings to stop the generation of pain signals.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
Kevin Liu, an oil and gas analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, compared the SPR releases as a painkillers for the oil market.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
Every once in a while, especially as it got later and her last dose of painkillers wore off, she would flinch for a second, but her eyes never lost the intensity I had noticed earlier.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
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.
