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phenacetin

[fuh-nas-i-tin]
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noun Pharmacology.
  1. a white, slightly water-soluble, crystalline solid, C10H13NO2, used in medicine chiefly as an agent for checking or preventing fever or for relieving pain: withdrawn because of unfavorable side effects.
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Origin of phenacetin

First recorded in 1885–90; phen(etidine) + acet(yl) + -in2
Also called acetophenetidin.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for phenacetin

Historical Examples

  • Some of these coal-tar remedies are Acetanilid, and Antipyrin, and Phenacetin.

    A Handbook of Health

    Woods Hutchinson

  • You might tell Andrews to bring me some phenacetin, will you, dear?

    The Making of a Soul

    Kathlyn Rhodes

  • Remember that it is the manufacturers of phenacetin who say this.

  • For the headaches, phenacetin, alone or in combination with caffein and bromide of sodium, may be tried.

    Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension:

    Louis Marshall Warfield

  • He fervently blessed the shortage of phenacetin that had forced him to take pilocarpin as a sweating substitute for fever.

    The Leopard Woman

    Stewart Edward White

British Dictionary definitions for phenacetin

phenacetin

noun
  1. a white crystalline solid formerly used in medicine to relieve pain and fever. Because of its kidney toxicity it has been superseded by paracetamol. Formula: CH 3 CONHC 6 H 4 OC 2 H 5Also called: acetophenetidin
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Word Origin

C19: from phenetidine + acetyl + -in
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