anesthetic

/ˌænəsˈθɛtɪk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

nonstandard/ˌænəsˈtɛtɪk/

anesthetic adjective: causing anesthesia; reducing pain sensitivity.

Adjective

anesthetic (comparative more anesthetic, superlative most anesthetic)

(Canada, US) Causing anesthesia; reducing pain sensitivity.
(Canada, US) Insensate: unable to feel, or unconscious.
- (I find that he is analgesic and anaesthetic; evidently he is in a state of passive somnambulism.)
  E. A. Did you feel anybody touch you?
  K. No. There's no one near me. (He continues laughing and talking. […])1924, Maurice Walter Keatinge, Suggestion in Education
- Though physically capable of attaining sex rewards, he is anesthetic; though capable of aggression, he is meek; though capable of affection, he is cold and unresponsive.1984, B. R. Hergenhahn, An Introduction to Theories of Personality, Prentice Hall

Noun

anesthetic (plural anesthetics)

(Canada, US) A substance administered to reduce the perception of pain or to induce numbness for surgery and may render the recipient unconscious.
- After a local anesthetic is applied to the eye, do not rub or wipe the eye until the anesthetic has worn off and feeling in the eye returns.1994, Anesthetics (Ophthalmic) (original version), Drugs.com
- Modern anesthetics can be divided into several different groups according to how and where they act to reduce pain.
  During premedication, the anesthetist may give a patient drugs that make him or her feel relaxed and drowsy before the actual general anesthetic is administered.2004, David B. Jacoby, R. M. Youngson, Encyclopedia of Family Health, Marshall Cavendish, page 91

anesthetic meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Arabic and Malay

anesthetic in Tamil

உணர்வகற்றி, உணர்வு நீக்க மருந்து, மயக்க மருந்து

anesthetic in Malayalam

a substance for the reduced perception of pain: അനസ്തികം anastikaṁ

anesthetic in Arabic

a substance for the reduced perception of pain: مُخَدِّر muḵaddir, بَنْج banj

anesthetic in Malay

a substance for the reduced perception of pain: bius

More languagesFewer languages

anesthetic in Indonesian: anestetik, anestetis
anesthetic in Thai: ยาสลบ yaa-sà-lòp, ยาชา yaa-chaa

Examples of anesthetic in a sentence

After the anesthetist administered the general anesthetic the patient was unconscious.
Now lie back while we inject you with the anesthetic.
Vaporizers not equipped with keyed fillers have been occasionally misfilled with the wrong anesthetic liquid.

All 18 example sentences with anesthetic

Forms of anesthetic

Adjective
comparative	more anesthetic
superlative	most anesthetic
alternative Commonwealth	anaesthetic
alternative form	anesthesic
alternative adjective	anesthetical
alternative form (dated)	anæsthetic
Noun
plural	anesthetics

Origin of anesthetic

From an- + esthetic, or Latinized form of Ancient Greek ἀναίσθητος (anaísthētos, “insensible”) + -ic, from ἀν- (an-, “un-”) + αἰσθητικός (aisthētikós, “perceptible”).

Words formed from anesthetic

Words that rhyme with anesthetic

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about anesthetic

What does anesthetic mean?: Anesthetic means causing anesthesia; reducing pain sensitivity.
What is anesthetic in Tamil?: Anesthetic in Tamil is உணர்வகற்றி, உணர்வு நீக்க மருந்து, மயக்க மருந்து. See Anesthetic meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is anesthetic?: Anesthetic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce anesthetic?: Anesthetic is pronounced /ˌænəsˈθɛtɪk/.

Words near anesthetic in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: anesthetic (page history and authors); anesthetic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-US anesthetic.ogg.

Cite this entry: “anesthetic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/anesthetic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.