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paracetamol

British

/ ˌpærəˈsiːtəˌmɒl, -ˈsɛtə- /

noun

US name: acetaminophen. a mild analgesic and antipyretic drug used as an alternative to aspirin

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of paracetamol

C20: from para-acetamidophenol

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.

"At one stage, I got quite tearful because I didn't think I could deal with the pain much longer and all they gave me was a paracetamol which did nothing," she added.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

Any previously-reported links between the drug and an increased risk of autism are likely to be explained by other factors, rather than a direct effect of the paracetamol itself, the review says.

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026

The reason, its authors wrote, was that “we had no data available on analgesics or possible local anesthetics used during ritual circumcisions in our cohort, so we were unable to address the paracetamol hypothesis directly.”

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2025

But if I had a significant cold, I’d take some paracetamol.

From Slate • Oct. 8, 2025

A common bacterium was genetically engineered to eat a plastic-derived molecule and then digest it to produce the everyday painkiller, paracetamol.

From BBC • Sep. 25, 2025

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023