tranquilize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tranquilize
Explanation
If your cat Fluffy seems dazed after a visit to the vet, it’s probably because the vet had to tranquilize her. In other words, Fluffy was given a drug to calm her down or make her sleep. When doctors tranquilize a patient, it's usually to calm or relax the person before a medical procedure or after some trauma. It's more common to hear the verb tranquilize in the context of animal medicine or encounters with wild animals. For example, if a bear wanders into a suburban neighborhood, officials might use a dart gun to tranquilize it; they can then safely capture and relocate the bear. The root word, tranquil, comes from the Latin tranquillus, meaning "quiet."
Vocabulary lists containing tranquilize
The Battle of the Labyrinth
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for October 9–October 15, 2021
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Endangered
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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:
They were joined by San Francisco police and staff from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the San Francisco Zoo, who helped to tranquilize the animal, officials said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026
Since then, local forest authorities are trying to tranquilize the remaining cheetahs to check for any diseases.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2023
This let police, along with a veterinarian from the National Zoo and animal welfare activists from the Humane Rescue Alliance, tranquilize the bear at 10:15 a.m.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 9, 2023
To tranquilize a tiger, the animal needs to be within close range and away from thick vegetation.
From Salon ● May 18, 2022
All she had done today was tranquilize a few dogs.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
That lion was also successfully tranquilized without any injuries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
The Japanese macaque, who some had nicknamed “Kingussie Kong,” was caught and tranquilized Thursday morning, after a member of public called a hotline to report it was eating from a bird feeder in their garden.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
FWC personnel were called to assist, and they safely tranquilized and captured the panther, according to WBBH-TV.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
This week, we’ve got a non-RFK development in the charismatic spoiler candidate space, an Indiana congresswoman who loves to keep ’em guessing, and a heavily tranquilized Kraken being hauled off to the probation officer.
From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2023
“Nanuq here was tranquilized and spent a month in Polar Bear Jail before being released back into the wild,” George explained.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
In August of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. famously referred to the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism" to highlight the urgency of seeing continuity between histories of racial injustice and contemporary inequalities.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2023
There, the researchers count bears, tranquilizing and tagging some to collect data about their health.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 4, 2022
Tender but emphatic, Kong’s effect is equal parts fearsome and tranquilizing; in this stage version, we come to see the kinship between Kong and Ann not as a study in opposites but in shared alienation.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2018
In central Idaho, volunteers earlier this month rescued a horse stranded on a snowy mountain by tranquilizing it, placing it in a sling and then attaching it on a long line to a helicopter.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 26, 2017
When the public protests, confronted with some obvious evidence of damaging results of pesticide applications, it is fed little tranquilizing pills of half truth.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
