truth serum

[ trooth seer-uh m ]

/ ˈtruθ ˌsɪər əm /

noun

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.

Nearby words

truth, truth claim, truth drug, truth is stranger than fiction, truth or consequences, truth serum, truth set, truth table, truth will out, truth, sojourner, truth-condition

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. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for truth drug

truth drug

truth serum

noun

informal any of various drugs supposed to have the property of making people tell the truth, as by relaxing them

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

Medicine definitions for truth drug

truth serum

[ trōōth ]

n.

Any of various hypnotic or anesthetic drugs, such as scopolamine or thiopental sodium, used to induce a subject under questioning to talk without inhibition.