Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having a soothing, calming, or tranquilizing effect; reducing or relieving anxiety, stress, irritability, or excitement.
- noun An agent or a drug having a soothing, calming, or tranquilizing effect.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Tending to calm, tranquilize, or soothe; specifically, in medicine, having the power of allaying or assuaging irritation, irritability, or pain.
- noun Whatever soothes, allays, or assuages; specifically, a medicine or a medical appliance which has the property of allaying irritation, irritability, or pain.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Med.) Tending to calm, moderate, or tranquilize.
- noun (Med.) A remedy which allays irritability and irritation, and irritative activity or pain.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An agent or
drug thatsedates , having acalming orsoothing effect, or inducingsleep . - adjective
Calming ,soothing , inducing sleep,tranquilizing
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective tending to soothe or tranquilize
- noun a drug that reduces excitability and calms a person
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Alcohol is a short-term sedative but may induce shallow sleep and less overall sleep time.
The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working Tony Schwartz 2010
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Alcohol is a short-term sedative but may induce shallow sleep and less overall sleep time.
Be Excellent at Anything Tony Schwartz 2010
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Alcohol is a short-term sedative but may induce shallow sleep and less overall sleep time.
Be Excellent at Anything Tony Schwartz 2010
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There was never any sense that he was a recreational drug user at all, but -- but there was questions about was there an overuse of certain painkillers and even, you know, the latest report about the Diprivan or the Propofol, which was that short-term sedative that was very, very dangerous that could have been used to help him go to sleep at night.
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The problem with most of these medications — especially so-called sedative-hypnotics, obtained by prescription and also known as benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepines — is that while they might seem to give the sufferer some relief, they either disrupt or prohibit REM sleep, the restorative kind that provides great, complicated dreams and a sense of renewed vigor and optimism in the morning.
The Waking Dead 2009
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He thought he had became addicted to Propofol, this very powerful sedative, which is really only supposed to be used in a hospital setting, Campbell.
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The second drug that they use paralyzes the inmate, which doesn't allow the person administering the drugs to know whether the sedative, which is the first drug, is actually working.
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Tobacco may more properly be called a sedative than a narcotic.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 34, August, 1860 Various
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Like other states, Virginia recently replaced sodium thiopental with pentobarbital after a nationwide shortage of the sedative, which is administered before two other drugs that stop the inmate's breathing and heart.
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Like other states, Virginia recently replaced sodium thiopental with pentobarbital after a nationwide shortage of the sedative, which is administered before two other drugs that stop the inmate's breathing and heart.
vanishedone commented on the word sedative
T.H.E.: 'Like Acton, Clapham believed in finding empty spaces in the past and dutifully filling them, so he was probably a connoisseur of tedium, and he is said to have died of boredom on a late train back from London as he shared the compartment with the wife of a college master famous for the sedative properties of her conversation. "Not a mark on his body," the medical report is rumoured to have said, "but with a terrible staring look in his eyes." The story is a tribute to the lady, for Clapham must have been a hard man to bore.'
April 16, 2009