bromides

Noun

bromide (plural bromides)

1. A binary compound of bromine and some other element or radical.
   1. Any salt of hydrobromic acid.
2. The anionic form of a bromine atom.
   • “How fortunate Buddha, Mahomed, and Shakespeare were that their kind relations and doctors did not cure them of their ecstasy and their inspiration,” said Kovrin. “If Mahomed had taken bromide for his nerves, had worked only two hours out of the twenty-four, and had drunk milk, that remarkable man...1894, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, The Black Monk, published 1917
3. (broadly) A dull person with conventional thoughts.
   • My adviser at college was a bromide who had not had an original thought in years.

   Antonyms:

   sulphite

4. (broadly) A platitude.
   • We hoped the speech would include reassurances, but instead it was merely one bromide after another.

   Synonyms:

   platitude, byword, saying, adage, saw, proverb, maxim, apothegm, apophthegm, dictum

5. (dated) A dose of bromide taken as a sedative, or to reduce sexual appetite.

See all 7 meanings of bromide