Word.ws English Dictionary

diethylstilbestrol

US/daɪˌɛθ.əl.stɪlˈbɛˌstɹɔl/

diethylstilbestrol noun: a synthetic estrogen drug C₁₈H₂₀O₂ used formerly to prevent miscarriage or premature delivery in humans and to promote growth in livestock. The medical use of diethystilbestrol was discontinued in the U.S. during the early 1970s due to its association with serious side effects (such as reproductive tract abnormalities and increased rates of infertility) in offspring exposed to the drug while developing in the uterus. It is no longer commercially available in the U.S. and its use is currently limited to specially compounded formulations for veterinary care.

diethylstilbestrol: a synthetic estrogen drug C₁₈H₂₀O₂ used formerly to prevent miscarriage or premature delivery in...
Image: 陳弈豪, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

diethylstilbestrol (countable and uncountable, plural diethylstilbestrols, abbreviation DES)

  1. A synthetic estrogen drug C₁₈H₂₀O₂ used formerly to prevent miscarriage or premature delivery in humans and to promote growth in livestock. The medical use of diethystilbestrol was discontinued in the U.S. during the early 1970s due to its association with serious side effects (such as reproductive tract abnormalities and increased rates of infertility) in offspring exposed to the drug while developing in the uterus. It is no longer commercially available in the U.S. and its use is currently limited to specially compounded formulations for veterinary care.
    • In 1971, yet another such study identified an even more unusual carcinogen, a synthetic hormonal medicine called diethylstilbestrol.2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 277
    Synonyms:
    stilbestrol

Synonyms of diethylstilbestrol

Forms of diethylstilbestrol

pluraldiethylstilbestrols
abbreviationDES
alternative UKdiethylstilboestrol

Origin of diethylstilbestrol

From diethyl + stilb(ene) + -estr- (“estrogen”) + -ol.

Questions about diethylstilbestrol

What does diethylstilbestrol mean?
Diethylstilbestrol means a synthetic estrogen drug C₁₈H₂₀O₂ used formerly to prevent miscarriage or premature delivery in humans and to promote growth in livestock. The medical use of diethystilbestrol was discontinued in the U.S. during the early 1970s due to its association with serious side effects (such as reproductive tract abnormalities and increased rates of infertility) in offspring exposed to the drug while developing in the uterus. It is no longer commercially available in the U.S. and its use is currently limited to specially compounded formulations for veterinary care.
What part of speech is diethylstilbestrol?
Diethylstilbestrol is a noun.
How do you pronounce diethylstilbestrol?
Diethylstilbestrol is pronounced /daɪˌɛθ.əl.stɪlˈbɛˌstɹɔl/ (US).
What is the plural of diethylstilbestrol?
The plural of diethylstilbestrol is diethylstilbestrols.

Words near diethylstilbestrol in the dictionary

  1. diethylphosphite
  2. diethylpropion
  3. diethylpyrocarbonate
  4. diethyls
  5. diethylstilbesterol
  6. diethylstilbestrol
  7. diethylstilbestrols
  8. diethylstilboestrol
  9. diethylthiambutene
  10. diethylthioxanthone
  11. diethylthioxanthones

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: diethylstilbestrol (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:

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