truth serum
[trooth seer-uh m]
- a drug, as the barbiturate thiopental, that induces in the subject a desire to talk or a state of heightened suggestibility, used in psychotherapy and in interrogation to discover repressed or consciously withheld information.
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Often truth drug [trooth druhg] /ˈtruθ ˌdrʌg/.
Compare narcoanalysis.
Origin of truth serum
First recorded in 1920–25
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
truth drug
truth serum
- informal any of various drugs supposed to have the property of making people tell the truth, as by relaxing them
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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
truth serum
(trōōth)- Any of various hypnotic or anesthetic drugs, such as scopolamine or thiopental sodium, used to induce a subject under questioning to talk without inhibition.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.