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.

  • noun (Med.) A remedy which allays irritability and irritation, and irritative activity or pain.
  • adjective (Med.) Tending to calm, moderate, or tranquilize.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An agent or drug that sedates, having a calming or soothing effect, or inducing sleep.
  • 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

[Middle English, from Old French sedatif, from Medieval Latin sēdātīvus, from Latin sēdātus, past participle of sēdāre, to calm; see sedate.]

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Examples

  • 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

  • Alcohol is a short-term sedative but may induce shallow sleep and less overall sleep time.

    Be Excellent at Anything Tony Schwartz 2010

  • Alcohol is a short-term sedative but may induce shallow sleep and less overall sleep time.

    Be Excellent at Anything Tony Schwartz 2010

  • 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.

    CNN Transcript Jul 9, 2009 2009

  • 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

  • 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.

    CNN Transcript Aug 24, 2009 2009

  • 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.

    CNN Transcript Feb 22, 2006 2006

  • Tobacco may more properly be called a sedative than a narcotic.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 34, August, 1860 Various

  • 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.

    Breaking News: CBS News 2011

  • 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.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2011

Comments

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  • 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