verb
medicate
MED-ih-kayt/ˈmedɪkeɪt/
To give medicine to treat a person or condition.
The nurse medicates the patient by helping her take a prescribed pill with water.
Etymology
Latin medicare meant “to heal or treat medicinally”; English medicate may instead have been formed from medication. That noun originally meant medical treatment, so both possible routes lead to an action rather than a substance.
In context
My little cat Dolly, she needs to be medicated, she had all her teeth extracted. But it's difficult to medicate her.
More examples
- The condition was medicated under a doctor's supervision.
- She asks whether the patient has already been medicated.
- The clinic medicates patients according to their individual needs.
Forms
medicate · medicates · medicated · medicating