Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Sedative |
SedativeAdjective1. Tending to soothe or tranquilize; "valium has a tranquilizing effect"; "took a hot drink with sedative properties before going to bed". Noun1. A drug that reduces excitability and calms a person. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sedative" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1791. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Botanical | A substance used to quiet a person or put him to sleep. Achyranthes, Bocconia, Cannabis, Cissampelos, Citrus, Cochlospermum, Coriandrum, Datura, Erythrina, Gossypium, Hydrocotyle, Lactuca, Mimosa, Papaver, Passiflora, Piscidia, Sica, Solanum. (references) |
Health | 1. allaying activity and excitement. 2. an agent that allays excitement. (references) |
Medicine | Drug that produces sedation. A central nervous system depressant used to produce sedation. Source: European Union. (references) |
| An agent that calms nervousness, irritability and excitement. In general, sedatives depress the central nervous system and tend to cause lassitude and reduced mental activity. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Types of Sedative
Barbiturates and benzodiazepines are the two major categories of oral sedative. Some well-known barbiturates are secobarbital (Seconal), pentobarbital (Nembutal), and amobarbital (Amytal). Benzodiazepines include diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), lorazepam (Ativan) and chlorazepate (Tranxene). Many sedatives do not fit in either category. They include methaqualone (Sopor, Quaalude), ethchlorvynol (Placidyl), chloral hydrate (Noctec), meprobamate (Miltown), glutethimide (Doriden), methyprylon (Noludar), zolpidem (Ambien), alpidem, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). Antihistamines such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) also have sedative effects, though not generally referred to as sedatives, and are sold as over-the-counter sleep aids. Herbs and plant-based drugs with sedative properties, such as valerian and mandrake, have been known since ancient times.Sedative Dependence
All sedatives can cause physical and psychological dependence when taken regularly over a period of time, even at therapeutic doses. When dependent users decrease or end use suddenly, they will exhibit withdrawal symptoms ranging from restlessness, insomnia and anxiety to convulsions and death. When users become psychologically dependent, they feel as if they need the drug to function although there is no biological dependence. In both types of dependence, finding and using the drug becomes the focus in life. Both physical and psychological dependence can be treated (see Sedative Dependence).Abuse and Overdoses
All sedatives can be abused, but barbiturates are responsible for most of the problems with sedative abuse due to their widespread "recreational" or non-medical use, as well as over-prescribing by medical doctors. People who have difficulty dealing with stress, anxiety or sleeplessness may overuse or become dependent on sedatives. Heroin users take them either to supplement their drug or to substitute for it. Stimulant users frequently take sedatives to calm excessive jitteriness. Others take sedatives recreationally to relax and forget their worries. Barbiturate overdose is a factor in nearly one-third of all reported drug-related deaths. These include suicides and accidental drug poisonings. Accidental deaths sometimes occur when a drowsy, confused user repeats doses. In the US, in 1998, a total of 70,982 sedative exposures were reported to US poison control centers, of which 2310 (3.2%) resulted in major toxicity and 89 (0.1%) resulted in death. About half of all the people admitted to emergency rooms in the US as a result of nonmedical use of sedatives have a legitimate prescription for the drug, but have taken an excessive dose or combined it with alcohol or other drugs. Others get sedatives from friends who have bona fide prescriptions or by using faked prescriptions. Sedatives and Alcohol
Sedatives and alcohol are sometimes combined recreationally or carelessly. Since alcohol also is a strong CNS depressant that slows brain function and depresses respiration, the two substances reinforce each other and this combination can prove fatal. Karen Anne Quinlan collapsed into a coma after swallowing alcohol and tranquilizers at a party in 1975. Her case spurred worldwide discussion of the ethics surrounding termination of life-sustaining treatment. Therapeutic Use
Sedation is widely used by doctors and nurses to dull the anxiety related to painful or anxiety-provoking procedures. Athough sedatives do not relieve pain in themselves, they can be a useful adjunct to analgesics in preparing patients for surgery or invasive procedures like cardiac catheterization or MRI. They increase tractability and compliance of children or troublesome or demanding patients. In California, 5 preschool children died from oversedation in dental offices between 1991 and 2002; four were given the oral sedative chloral hydrate to keep them still.
Lookalikes
Lookalikes, or pills made to mimic the appearance and the effects of authentic sedatives, are sold on the street. Lookalikes may contain over-the-counter drugs, such as antihistamines, that cause drowsiness. Like any other drug that is illicitly manufactured and sold, their composition and effects cannot be predicted.Sedative Drugs and Crime
Some rapists administer sedative drugs, particularly GHB or GBL, to unsuspecting women in bars or at parties to reduce the intended victim's defenses. To protect yourself against being sedated against your will, see Sedative Drugs and Violence
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Sedative."
Synonyms: SedativeSynonyms: ataractic (adj), ataraxic (adj), tranquilising (adj), tranquilizing (adj), depressant (n), downer (n), sedative drug (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inactivity | Sedative. |
Lullaby, sedative, tranquilizer, hypnotic, sleeping pill, relaxant, anaesthetic, general anaesthetic; torpedo. | |
Moderation | Unexciting, unirritating; soft, bland, oily, demulcent, lenitive, anodyne; hypnotic; sedative; antiorgastic, anaphrodisiac. |
Measure, juste milieu, golden mean, gr/ariston metron/gr moderator; lullaby, sedative, lenitive, demulcent, antispasmodic, carminative, laudanum; rose water, balm, poppy, opiate, anodyne, milk, opium, "poppy or mandragora"; wet blanket; palliative. | |
Remedy | Anthelmintic; antidote, antifebrile, antipoison, counterpoison, antitoxin, antispasmodic; bracer, faith cure, placebo; helminthagogue, lithagogue, pick-meup, stimulant, tonic; vermifuge, prophylactic, corrective, restorative; sedative; palliative; febrifuge; alterant, alterative; specific; antiseptic, emetic, analgesic, pain-killer, antitussive, antiinflammatory, antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, carminative; Nepenthe, Mithridate. |
Adjective: remedial; restorative; corrective, palliative, healing; sanatory, sanative; prophylactic, preventative, immunizing; salutiferous; (salutary); medical, medicinal; therapeutic, chirurgical, epulotic, paregoric, tonic, corroborant, analeptic, balsamic, anodyne, hypnotic, neurotic, narcotic, sedative, lenitive, demulcent, emollient; depuratory; detersive, detergent; abstersive, disinfectant, febrifugal, alterative; traumatic, vulnerary. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I don't want a sedative! I want Jeb! (Dark Shadows; writing credit: Seong-ho Park) | |
Lyrics | I'm your sedative, (Don't Cry; performing artist: Seal) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Physical Therapy Department, Deshon General Hospital, Butler, Pennsylvania : Deep sedative message being given to a lower leg and foot.Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche | There is no better soporific and sedative than skepticism. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Nicotine can act as both a stimulant and a sedative. (references) | |
It is both a stimulant and a sedative to the central nervous system. (references) | ||
The sedative and toxic effects of Rohypnol are aggravated by concurrent use of alcohol. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Sedative" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 64.44% of the time. "Sedative" is used about 45 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 64.44% | 29 | 64,444 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 35.56% | 16 | 87,710 |
| Total | 100.00% | 45 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "sedative": salt sedative ♦ sedative drug ♦ sedative salt. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "sedative": sedative-hypnotic, sedative-hypnotic drug, sedative-induced. | |
Ending with "sedative": non-sedative. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
sedative | 22 |
dog sedative | 9 |
sedative drug | 8 |
abuse sedative | 4 |
detox sedative | 4 |
sedative hypnotics | 4 |
detoxification sedative | 4 |
addiction sedative | 4 |
ass injection sedative | 4 |
sedative and hypnotic | 4 |
dependence sedative | 4 |
sedative treatment | 4 |
cat sedative | 3 |
dog natural sedative | 2 |
pet sedative | 2 |
dentistry sedative | 2 |
drug hypnotic sedative | 2 |
herb sedative | 2 |
anti nausea sedative | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "sedative"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | qetësues (anodyne, assuagement, balmy, bland, calming, comforting, demulcent, depressant, drug, easeful, lenitive, pacificatory, painkiller, palliative, paregoric, reposeful, restful, soother, soothing, tranquilizer), përmbajtës (represser), mjet qetësues. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مهدئ (anodyne, assuasive, calmative, calming, soother, soothing), مسكن (abode, anodyne, apartment, assuasive, demulcent, easing, habitation, home, house, lenitive, lodging, palliative, quarters, relieving, residence, soothing), عقار مسكن (anodyne). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | успокоително средство (anaesthetic, anesthetic, assuagement, calmative, cushion, lenitive, salve, tranquilizer), успокоителен (calmative, comfortable, comforting, composing, emollient, grateful, lenitive, palliative, placatory, reposeful, restful), седативно средство, седативен. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 镇静剂. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | sedativní, uklidòující prostředek (tranquillizer), uklidòující (balmy, calming, easeful, emollient, placatory, restful, soothing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | sedativum, sedativ, beroligende middel (ataractic, ataraxic, tranquilizer, tranquillizer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | sedativum (nepenthes). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | داروی مسکن . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | rauhoittava (comforting, reassuring, soothing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | sedatif, sédatif. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Sedativum, Beruhigungsmittel (bromide, depressant, depressants, downer, placebos, sedation, sedatives, suppressant, suppressants, tranquilizer, tranquilizers, tranquillizer, tranquillizers). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ηρεμιστικό (soothing, tranquillizer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | משקיט (anodyne, tranquillizer), משכך. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | altató (drowsy, narcotic, sleeping pill, sleeping-draught, sleeping-pill, slumberous, slumbery, soporific). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | penenang saraf, obat penenang (phenobarbital). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | sedativo (anodyne, depressant, soothing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 鎮痛剤 (painkiller, tranquilizer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ち"つうざい (painkiller, tranquilizer), ち"せいざい (painkiller, tranquilizer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 진 (tranquilizer, tranquillizer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | kiuneyder (appeaser, muffler, pacifier, queller, quietener, silencer, soother, tranquillizer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | edativesay sedativo (calmative, depressant, soothing), calmante (ataractic, ataraxic, calmative, composing, depressant, easeful, healing, mollifier, painless, paregoric, relaxing, salve, soothing, tranquilizer, tranquillizer). (various references) sedativ (assuasive, depressant, tranquillizer), calmant (anodyne, assuasive, balmy, calmative, calming, pain killer, tranquillizer). (various references) успокоительный (calmatige, mitigatory, pacificatory, reposeful, restful, soothing), успокаивающее средство (calmatige, composing medicine, tranquilizer, tranquillizer), успокаивающий (anodyne, assuasive, balmy, calming, composing, demulcent, lenitive, soothing). (various references) sedativ, umirujući (appeasable, calming, lenitive, mitigatory, palliative, soothing). (various references) sedativo (soothing), sedante (appeasing, calming, reassuring, salving). (various references) sedativ, lugnande medel (lenitive, tranquilizer, tranquillizer). (various references) ยาระงับประสาท, ซึ่งทำให้เงียบสงบ. (various references) sakinleştirici (anodyne, pacificatory, placatory, soothing, trank, tranquilizer, tranquillizer), yatıştırıcı (anodyne, calmative, calming, composing, conciliatory, corrective, demulcent, depressant, low profile, nervine, pacificatory, palliative, paregoric, placatory, propitiatory, salve, soothing, trank, tranquilizer, tranquillizer). (various references) заспокійливий засіб (calmative, demulcent, depressant, nepenthes, obtundent, opiate, quieter), заспокійливий (assuasive, balsamic, calmative, comfortable, composing, conciliative, conciliatory, demulcent, easeful, lenitive, nepenthean, obtundent, pacificatory, placatory, propitiatory, reposeful, restful). (various references) thuốc giảm đau (pain-killer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "sedative": sedatives. (additional references) | |
| |
"Sedative" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: meditive, senative, Sidati, situative. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sedative" (pronounced se"dutiv) |
| 5 | -d u t i v | additive. |
| 4 | -u t i v | accusative, acquisitive, affirmative, alliterative, alternative, anticompetitive, argumentative, causative, cognitive, commemorative, communicative, comparative, competitive, consecutive, conservative, consultative, contemplative, cumulative, curative, decorative, definitive, degenerative, demonstrative, derivative, diminutive, dispositive, duplicative, evocative, executive, expletive, exploitative, Federative, figurative, fixative, formative, fugitive, generative, hypersensitive, illustrative, imaginative, imperative, indicative, infinitive, informative, initiative, inoperative, inquisitive, insensitive, interpretive, intuitive, laxative, lucrative, narrative, negative, neoconservative, noncompetitive, noncumulative, nonexecutive, normative, nutritive, operative, palliative, participative, pejorative, positive, prerogative, preservative, preventative, primitive, prohibitive, provocative, punitive, putative, recuperative, relative, remunerative, rep, repetitive, representative, restorative, secretive, sensitive, speculative, superlative, talkative, tentative, ultraconservative, uncompetitive, uncooperative, unimaginative, uninformative, unrepresentative, vituperative. |
| 3 | -t i v | abortive, accommodative, accumulative, active, adaptive, addictive, adjective, administrative, adoptive, affective, appointive, appreciative, assaultive, assertive, attentive, attractive, authoritative, automotive, captive, collaborative, collective, combative, conductive, congestive, connective, constructive, contraceptive, cooperative, corrective, corruptive, counterproductive, creative, deceptive, defective, deliberative, descriptive, destructive, detective, digestive, dilutive, directive, disincentive, disparages, disruptive, dissipative, distinctive, distributive, effective, elective, elucidative, eruptive, exhaustive, exploitive, facultative, festive, furtive, hyperactive, imitative, inactive, inattentive, incentive, ineffective, infective, injunctive, innovative, instinctive, instructive, interactive, introspective, invective, inventive, investigative, irrespective, iterative, legislative, locomotive, manipulative, meditative, motive, native, nonautomotive, nonnative, nonproductive, objective, obstructive, octave, overactive, perceptive, perspective, photoconductive, plaintive, predictive, preemptive, presumptive, preventive, proactive, probative, productive, prognosticative, projective, prospective, protective, qualitative, quantitative, radioactive, reactive, receptive, reconstructive, redemptive, redistributive, reflective, refractive, regulative, rehabilitative, reproductive, respective, restive, restrictive, retroactive, retrospective, seductive, selective, stimulative, subjective, substantive, suggestive, superconductive, supportive, unattractive, unproductive, unreceptive, vegetative, vindictive. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: deviates. | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-e-i-s-t-v" | |
-1 letter: advisee, datives, deviate, ideates, vistaed. | |
-2 letters: advise, dative, davies, davits, deaves, devest, devise, divest, evades, evited, evites, ideate, seated, sedate, sieved, staved, teased, vested, visaed, viseed. | |
-3 letters: adits, aedes, aides, aside, dates, davit, deave, deets, deist, devas, diets, ditas, dites, divas, dives, eased, eaved, eaves, edits, evade, evite, ideas, sated, saved, setae, sieve. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-e-i-s-t-v" | |
+1 letter: advertise, derivates, estivated, sedatives, vesicated. | |
+2 letters: adjectives, adventives, advertised, advertiser, advertises, advertizes, advisement, aestivated, travestied, videotapes. | |
+3 letters: adversative, adversities, advertisers, advisements, deactivates, depravities, derivatives, derivatizes, desiccative, designative, devastative, devitalizes, eviscerated, medievalist, revalidates, revitalised, vesiculated. | |
+4 letters: adaptiveness, adversatives, advertencies, decemvirates, denervations, desiderative, deverbatives, investigated, medievalists, misadventure, misevaluated, overstrained, postmedieval, unadvertised, vasectomized, veratridines. | |
+5 letters: adversatively, advertisement, conservatized, demonstrative, denominatives, inadvertences, misadventures, overadvertise, overestimated, overmedicates, tergiversated, valedictories, videocassette. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 65 64 61 74 69 76 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... . -.. .- - .. ...- . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01100101 01100100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S e d a t i v e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 0065 0064 0061 0074 0069 0076 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5371706786758871 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
