medicine Hear it!

medicine Definition

medi·cine (med′ə sən; Brit med′sən, -sin)

noun

  1. the science and art of diagnosing, treating, curing, and preventing disease, relieving pain, and improving and preserving health
  2. the branch of this science and art that makes use of drugs, diet, etc., as distinguished esp. from surgery and obstetrics
    1. any drug or other substance used in treating disease, healing, or relieving pain
    2. Obsolete a drug or other substance, as a poison, love potion, etc., used for other purposes
  4. ☆ among North American Indian peoples
    1. any object, spell, rite, etc. supposed to have natural or supernatural powers as a remedy, preventive, protection, etc.
    2. magical power

Etymology: OFr < L medicina < medicus: see medical

transitive verb -·cined, -·cin·ing

to give medicine to; treat medicinally

medicine Idioms

take one's medicine

☆

to endure just punishment or accept the results of one's action

medicine Synonyms

medicine

n.

  1. The healing profession

    medical men, healers, practitioners, doctors, physicians, surgeons, osteopaths, chiropractors, the profession, American Medical Association, A.M.A.

  2. A medical preparation

    medication, drug, dose, potion, prescription, pill, tablet, capsule, draft, curative preparation, patent medicine, remedy, cure, antivenin, anti-poison, antibiotic, medicament, vaccination, inoculation, injection, draught, simple, herb, specific, nostrum, elixir, tonic, balm, alterant, salve, lotion, ointment, emetic, pharmacopoeia, shot.

    Types of medicines include: antibiotic, antiseptic, antitoxin, antidote, antifungal, vaccine; analgesic, pain reliever, pain killer, anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxer, anesthetic, antispasmodic, antipyretic, febrifuge, steroid; sedative, tranquilizer, anticonvulsant, antidepressant; demulcent, antipruritic, astringent, counterirritant; laxative, cathartic, purgative, antacid, emetic, vermifuge; cough suppressant, expectorant, decongestant, antihistamine; antineoplastic, chemotherapeutic, chemo, immunosuppressive drug; anticoagulant, vasodilator, vasoconstrictor, beta blocker.

  3. The study and practice of medicine

    medical science, physic, healing art, medical profession, doctoring*, bed-panology*.

    Branches of medicine include: general practice, family practice, internal medicine, surgery, sports medicine, orthopedics, cardiology, hematology, respiratory medicine, otorhinolaryngology, (ear, nose, and throat), audiology, ophthalmology, allergology, immunology, rheumatology, anesthesiology, endocrinology, dermatology, gastroenterology, nephrology, urology, gynecology, obstetrics, neonatology, pediatrics, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, geriatrics, oncology, radiology, pathology, toxicology, public health, epidemiology, tropical medicine, occupational medicine, industrial medicine.

  4. The following are not always recognized as branches of medicine: osteopathy, homeopathy, chiropractic.

medicine Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • prescribe: Your GP may be able to prescribe medicines to help relieve your PMS.
  • dispense: There is a good chance that the availability and way we dispense veterinary medicines is going to change in the close future.
  • practice: Bonham had been fined for practicing medicine without a license from the Royal College of Physicians.
  • administer: Mrs Hepworth does not recall a doctor attending during the visit, nor anybody administering any medicine to Miss Brown.

Adjective modifier

  • herbal: The most ancient system of herbal medicine is Ayurveda.
  • veterinary: Most veterinary medicine is human medicine used for treating animals ( with which humans share 99 % of their genes ).
  • complementary: Complementary Medicine Research Research into all areas of complementary medicine.
  • evidence-based: How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine.
  • Chinese: Can we apply Chinese Medicine to Pressure Point Fighting?
  • geriatric: If this comes off, it would be a major opportunity for geriatric medicine to lead the agenda.

Modifies a noun

  • cabinet: I sound like a medicine cabinet don't I and this is someone who normally does not like to pill pop!
  • chest: It is not surprising that recently chocolate has been proved and added to the homeopathic medicine chest of over 2000 remedies.
  • bottle: Reading a newspaper or medicine bottle; checking change at the supermarket; helping children with their homework or applying for a job.
  • management: There will be a requirement that five hours each week be spent on medicines management.

Noun used with modifier

  • prescription: Studies suggest that the prescription medicines approved for human flu viruses would work in preventing bird flu infection in humans.
  • cough: On Boot's Children's cough medicine: Do not drive car or operate machinery.
  • transfusion: We also provide specialist medical advice and clinical support to hospitals, as well as educating and training transfusion medicine specialists.
  • preventer: They may advise you take extra preventer medicine during the week before your period.
  • folk: What happens when folk medicine and professional biomedicine are used at the same time?
  • sport: References to research and literature covering sports medicine, biomechanics, training and coaching.
medicine Quotes

The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while Nature cures the disease.

—Voltaire pseudonym of  Fran c° ois Marie Arouet

A well-chosen anthology is a complete dispensary of medicine for the more common mental disorders, and may be used as much for prevention as cure.

—Graves, Robert von Ranke

I wasn't driven into medicine by a social conscience but by rampant curiosity.

—Miller,JonathanWolfe

One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.

—Osler, Sir William

Is there no way to beget In my limbs their former heat? Aeson had (as Poets fain) Baths that made him young again: Find that Medicine (if you can) For your dry-decrepit man: Who would but fain his strength renew, Were it but to pleasure you.

—Herrick, Robert

Grief is itself a med'cine.

—Cowper,William

Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality.

—Mencken, H(enry) L(ouis)

In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but its effects.

—Fulbright,J(ames) William

The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals.

—Osler, Sir William

   I have fallen in love with American names, The sharp, gaunt names that never get fat, The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims, The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine Hat, Tucson and Deadwood and Lost Mule Flat.

—Bene¤  t, StephenVincent

Medicine is a noble profession but a damn bad business.

—Rolleston, Humphrey

A faithful friend is the medicine of life; and they that fear the Lord shall find him.

—Bible (Apocrypha)

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine, now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic.

—Szasz,Thomas Stephen

Life is a malady whose one medicine is Death.

—Abu'l-'Ala¤   Al-Ma'arri

It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusionthat Iamsuffering fromtheparticulardisease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.

—Jerome,Jerome K(lapka)

Nature is nowhere accustomed more openly to display her secret mysteries than in cases where she shows tracings of her workings apart from the beaten paths; nor is there any better way to advance the proper practice of medicine than to give our minds to the discovery of the usual law of nature, by careful investigation of cases of rarer forms of disease.

—Harvey,William

Yas |¤ , enfermos, ojo alerta, y a ning u¤ n me¤  dico admitan; mueran de gorra, sin dar un real a la medicina. Be careful then, patients, and don't accept any doctor; die for free and do not give a single coin to medicine.

—Valle y Caviedes,Juan del

The longer I practise medicine, the more convinced I am there are only two types of cases: those that involve taking the trousers off and those that don't.

—Bennett, Alan