purgative

[pur-guh-tiv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR purgative ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

purging or cleansing, especially by causing evacuation of the bowels.

noun

a purgative medicine or agent; cathartic.

Origin of purgative

1350–1400; < Late Latin pūrgātīvus (see purgation, -ive); replacing Middle English purgatyf < Middle French < Late Latin, as above

Related formspur·ga·tive·ly, adverbnon·pur·ga·tive, adjectivenon·pur·ga·tive·ly, adverbun·pur·ga·tive, adjectiveun·pur·ga·tive·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for purgative

purge, laxative, physic, aperient, emetic, aperitive

Examples from the Web for purgative

Contemporary Examples of purgative

That makes the playing of a football game not purgative but grotesque in the current context.
Penn State Should Cancel the Rest of Its Football Season
Michael Tomasky
November 12, 2011

Historical Examples of purgative

For the present he can but prescribe a purgative and a massage of the arm and spine.
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani
The next morning administer a purgative dose of oil or salts.
The Physical Life of Woman:
Dr. George H Napheys
A decoction of the leaves is purgative and is used in lead colic.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines
T. H. Pardo de Tavera
Ainslie states that the decoction is employed as a vermifuge and purgative.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines
T. H. Pardo de Tavera
The working of purgative physic is violent and contrary to nature.
Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne

British Dictionary definitions for purgative

purgative

noun

a drug or agent for purging the bowels

adjective

causing evacuation of the bowels; cathartic

Derived Formspurgatively, adverb

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

Word Origin and History for purgative

adj.

late 14c., from Old French purgatif (14c.) and directly from Late Latin purgativus, from purgat-, past participle stem of Latin purgare (see purge (v.)). The noun is attested from early 15c. (Old English medical texts have clænsungdrenc).

purgative in Medicine

purgative

[pûr′gə-tĭv]

n.

An agent used for purging the bowels.

adj.

Tending to cause evacuation of the bowels.

Related formspur′ga•tive adj.