Word.ws English Dictionary

expectorant

expectorant noun: an agent or drug used to cause or induce the expulsion of phlegm from the lungs.

Noun

expectorant (plural expectorants)

  1. An agent or drug used to cause or induce the expulsion of phlegm from the lungs.
    • The disease was regarded as pneumonia so far advanced that suppuration seemed to have supervened; bleeding, blisters, expectorants, and cathartics diminished the symptoms; the pulse continued frequent, hard, full, but always regular.1833, R. J. Bertin, translated by Charles W. Chauncy, Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blnachard, page 165
    • The bedside table is littered with both OTC and prescription expectorants and pertussives and analgesics and Vitamin-C megaspansules[…]1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 60

Adjective

expectorant (not comparable)

  1. Causing or assisting the expulsion of phlegm.
    • an expectorant preparation
    • ‘Matchett says there’s old Mr P. who made all the money with ’is cought mixture—’ ‘Not Parkinsons ex . . . something?’ asked Jessamy. ‘That’s it,’ nodded Sarah, ‘ “Hexpectorant Posset”.’1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 84
    Synonyms:
    expectorative

expectorant meaning in Tamil and Kannada

expectorant in Tamil

சளி நீக்க மருந்து, கபமிளக்கி, சளி இயக்கி, சளிநீக்கி கபம் நீக்கி, சளிகக்குவிக்கின்ற

expectorant in Kannada

ಕಫಹಾರಿ, ಕಫ ಹೋಗಲಾಡಿಸುವ ಔಷಧಿ

Synonyms of expectorant

Forms of expectorant

pluralexpectorants

Origin of expectorant

From expectorate + -ant.

Questions about expectorant

What does expectorant mean?
Expectorant means an agent or drug used to cause or induce the expulsion of phlegm from the lungs.
What is expectorant in Tamil?
Expectorant in Tamil is சளி நீக்க மருந்து, கபமிளக்கி, சளி இயக்கி. See Expectorant meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is expectorant?
Expectorant can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of expectorant?
The plural of expectorant is expectorants.

Words near expectorant in the dictionary

  1. expectingness
  2. expectings
  3. expection
  4. expections
  5. expective
  6. expectorant
  7. expectorants
  8. expectorate
  9. expectorated
  10. expectorates
  11. expectorating

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: expectorant (page history and authors); expectorant (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); expectorant (Kannada 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.

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

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