Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Laxative |
LaxativeAdjective1. Stimulating evacuation of feces. Noun1. A mild cathartic. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "laxative" was first used: 1373. (references) |
Etymology: Laxative \Lax"a*tive\, adjective. [Latin expression laxativus mitigating, assuaging: compare to the French expression laxatif. See Lax,]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Botanical | A substance which helpe evacuate the bowels. Cassia, Colocasis, Crescentia, Desmodium, Gossypium, Mangifera, Raphanus, Sesamum, Sesbania, Turnera. (references) |
Health | An agent that acts to promote evacuation of the bowel; a cathartic or purgative. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A laxative is a preparation used for the purpose of encouraging defecation, or the elimination of feces. Laxatives are most often taken in response to constipation. They are also sometimes used before medical procedures. They are often abused by bulimics or anorexics. Laxatives are sometimes supplemented by enemas.Laxative abuse is a problem that is potentially very serious. Laxative abuse can lead to problems such as intestinal paralysis.
Laxatives are of several types, listed below. A type not listed is the combination laxative, which simply means that the laxative has more than one ingredient, with a combination of effects.
Bulking agents (fiber)
These include dietary fiber. Bulking agents cause the stool to be bulkier and to retain more water, making it easier for peristaltic action to move it along. Examples: Metamucil, psyllium seed, appless
Stool softeners
These cause water and fats to penetrate the stool, making it easier to move along. Many of these quickly produce a tolerance effect and so become ineffective with prolongued use. Example: Doxidan
Hydrating agents (osmotics)
These cause the intestines to concentrate more water within, softening the stool. There are two principal types, saline and lactulose. Example: Milk of MagnesiaLubricants
These simply make the stool more slippery, so that it slides through the intestine easier. Example: mineral oil
Stimulants (cathartics)
These stimulate peristaltic action, and can be dangerous under certain circumstances. Example: Ex-Lax, Feen-a-Mint, senna
Carbon-dioxide releasers
These inflate the bowel to make it easier for the stool to pass through. This can be painful and even dangerous.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Laxative."
| Antonym: costive (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cleanness | Wash, lotion, detergent, cathartic, purgative; purifier; Verb: disinfectant; aperient; benzene, benzine benzol, benolin; bleaching powder, chloride of lime, dentifrice, deobstruent, laxative. |
Remedy | Allopathic, heteropathic, homeopathic, hydropathic; anthelmintic; antifebrile, antiluetic; aperient, chalybeate, deobstruent, depurative, laxative, roborant. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Laxative |
| English words defined with "laxative": aperient ♦ cascara, cascara sagrada, cathartic, Chinese rhubarb, chittam bark, chittem bark ♦ Epsom salts, evacuant ♦ fleawort ♦ Laxativeness ♦ magnesium hydroxide, milk of magnesia, mineral oil ♦ phenolphthalein, Plantago psyllium, psyllium, purgative ♦ Relaxative, Rheum palmatum ♦ Solutive, Spanish psyllium. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "laxative": Ajonjoli ♦ CASSIA BICAPSULARIS, CELTIS IGUANAEUS, Chenodeoxycholic Acid, COLOCASIA ANTIQUORUM, COSTUS VILLOSISSIMUS, CROTALARIA GUATEMALENSIS ♦ Gallito ♦ Lactulose ♦ Methylcellulose ♦ Oxyphenisatin Acetate ♦ Sorbitol ♦ TURNERA DIFFUSA. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Clever | Life lesson: Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | A mild laxative may also be helpful. (references) | |
Fruit can act as a natural laxative and should be eaten sparingly. (references) | ||
If constipation occurs, ask your doctor if you can take a laxative. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Laxative" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 54.55% of the time. "Laxative" is used about 44 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 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 54.55% | 24 | 71,196 |
| Noun (singular) | 45.45% | 20 | 78,262 |
| Total | 100.00% | 44 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "laxative": give a laxative to ♦ have a laxative effect. Additional references. | |
| 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. |
| Language | Translations for "laxative"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | laksativ (lenitive), pastrues (abstergent, care-taker, orderly, purgative, purgatorial, purgatory, purificatory, purifier, rectifier, refiner, scavenger, swabber, swamper). (various references) | |
Arabic | ملين للأمعاء, مسهل لطيف للأمعاء, مسهل (aperient, purgative, purge), مصاب بالإسهال. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разслабително средство (aperient), разслабителен (aperient, opening, purgative), който отваря, който отпуска. (various references) | |
Chinese | 瀉藥 , 泻药. (various references) | |
Czech | laxativum, projímavý (aperient, purgative), projímadlo (purge). (various references) | |
Danish | laxativt stof, laksans. (various references) | |
Dutch | laxeermiddel, laxans (aperients, laxatives, purgatives, purges). (various references) | |
Esperanto | laksigilo. (various references) | |
Farsi | ملین (Lenient), ضدیبوست (Lenient). (various references) | |
Finnish | ulostuslääkkeiden liikakäytön aiheuttama häiriö (laxative abuse), osmoottinen ulostuslääke (osmotic laxative), osmoottinen laksatiivi (osmotic laxative), massaulostuslääke (osmotic laxative), kontaktilaksatiivi (stimulatory laxative), bulkkilaksatiivi (osmotic laxative). (various references) | |
French | laxatif (a et sm), laxatif, produit laxatif. (various references) | |
German | abführmittel (aperient, cathartic, physic, purgative, purge), abführend (aperient, cathartic, evacuative, laxativ, laxatively, purgative). (various references) | |
Greek | καθαρτκό, καθαρτικόσ (aperient, cathartical, purgative), καθαρτικό προϊόν. (various references) | |
Hungarian | hashajtó (aloes, aperient, aperitif, black draught, cathartic, physic, purgative, purgative medicine, purge). (various references) | |
Indonesian | urus-urus (purgative), obat usus. (various references) | |
Italian | lassativo (aperient). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 腹下し (diarrhea, evacuant, loose bowels, purgative), 緩下薬 , 下薬 , 下し薬 , 下剤 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | く しぐすり, か"'やく, 'ざい, 'やく, はらく し (diarrhea, evacuant, loose bowels, purgative). (various references) | |
Manx | stoo feayslee (aperient), purgaidagh (aperient, cathartic, purgative), feayslagh (redeemable, soluble, solvable). (various references) | |
Norwegian | avføringsmiddel. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | axativelay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | laxativo (aperient, deobstruent, depletive, loose, loosener, opener, purgative, relaxing). (various references) | |
Romanian | laxativ (aperient, relaxing), purgativ (purgative). (various references) | |
Russian | слабительный (aperient, depletive, depletory, purgative), слабительное средство (cathartic, depletive), слабительное (aperitive, cathartic, detergent, loosener, physic, purge). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | laksativno sredstvo, laksativ, purgativan (cathartic, purgative), purgativ (cathartic, physic). (various references) | |
Spanish | purgante (cathartic, depletory, purgative, purge). (various references) | |
Swedish | lösande (dissolvent, resolving, solution), avföringsmedel (aperient, depletive, evacuant). (various references) | |
Thai | เกี่ยวกับยาระบาย, ที่ทำให้ผ่อนคลาย, ยาระบาย. (various references) | |
Turkish | yumuşatıcı (balsamic, plasticizer, relaxing), müshil (aperient, evacuant, purgative), kabız giderici. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | проносне (aperient, cathartic, depletive, evacuant, physic, purgative, purge), проносний (aperient, cathartic, depletive, depletory, evacuant, purgative). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | nhuận tr ng (aperient, aperitive). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | catharticum, laxare. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "laxative": laxatives. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "laxative" (pronounced la"ksutiv) |
| 6 | -k s u t i v | fixative. |
| 5 | -s u t i v | hypersensitive, insensitive, sensitive. |
| 4 | -u t i v | accusative, acquisitive, additive, 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, formative, fugitive, generative, illustrative, imaginative, imperative, indicative, infinitive, informative, initiative, inoperative, inquisitive, interpretive, intuitive, 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, sedative, speculative, superlative, talkative, tentative, ultraconservative, uncompetitive, uncooperative, unimaginative, uninformative, unrepresentative, vituperative. |
| 3 | -t i v | accommodative, abortive, 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 | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-e-i-l-t-v-x" | |
-2 letters: alexia, aviate. | |
-3 letters: alate, alive, avail, axial, axile, axite, exalt, ixtle, latex, telia, valet, vexil, vitae, vital. | |
-4 letters: alae, alit, axal, axel, axil, axle, evil, exit, ilea, ilex, late, lati, lava, lave, leva, lite, live, tael, tail, tala, tale, tali, taxa, taxi, teal, tela, tile, vail, vale, veal, veil, vela, vext, vial, vile. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-e-i-l-t-v-x" | |
+1 letter: laxatives. | |
+3 letters: explanative. | |
+4 letters: excavational, exhilarative. | |
+5 letters: explanatively, extrapolative. | |
| 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. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
