medicine

Syllables: me·di·cine/ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n//ˈmɛd.ɪ.sɪn/

medicine noun: a substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.

Noun

medicine (countable and uncountable, plural medicines)

A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.
- This medicine has fewer adverse effects than others in its drug class.
- Using a weekly pill organizer is a good way to help remind yourself to take your medicine each day, and it also tells you whether you already took today's pills (it's not unusual to forget doing a habitual task)!
Synonyms:

pharmaceutical
(broadly, countable) Any treatment or cure.
- A legislative remedy might be some harsh medicine; is that cure worse than the ill?
- Surely every medicine is an innovation; and he that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils […]1625, Francis Bacon, Of Innovation
Synonyms:

regimen, course, program, prescription
(uncountable) The study of the cause, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease or illness.
- She's studying medicine at university because she wants to be a doctor in the future.
(uncountable) The profession and practice of physicians, including surgeons.
- The history of medicine can be discretized into eras with differing relationships between physicians and surgeons
1. (often, specifically) Scientific medicine.
2. (historical, mainly, uncountable) The profession and practice of nonsurgical physicians as sometimes distinguished from that of surgeons.
  - the evolving relationship of medicine to surgery in the nineteenth century
(uncountable) Ritual magic used, as by a medicine man, to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, or warfare; traditional medicine.
Among the Native Americans, a spiritual power, or any object or person through whom such power is channeled, believed to grant influence over natural or magical forces, provide protection, or effect healing.
- The North American Indian boy usually took as his medicine the first animal of which he dreamed during the long and solitary fast that he observed at puberty.1896, F. H. Giddings, The Principles of Sociology
- Well, I brought 'em luck all the time; they always said so. I was good medicine - until that last fight.1952, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Unbeliever; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 33
(obsolete) Black magic, superstition.
(obsolete) A philter or love potion.
- If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged. It could not be else. I have drunk medicines.1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, II. ii. 18
(obsolete) A physician.
- I have seen a medicine / That's able to breathe life into a stone1598, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, II. i. 72
(slang) Recreational drugs, especially alcoholic drinks.

Verb

medicine (third-person singular simple present medicines, present participle medicining, simple past and past participle medicined)

(obsolete, rare) To treat with medicine.
- And we shall find, under the head of the medicining of the body, some things on the subject of medicine in general, which could be better said there than here, because of the wrath of professional dignitaries,- the eye of the 'basilisk,' was not perhaps quite so terrible in that quarter then, as it...1857, Delia Bacon, The philosophy of the plays of Shakspere unfolded

medicine meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

medicine in Hindi

profession: चिकित्सा cikitsā
substance which promotes healing: औषधि auṣdhi, औषध auṣadh, दवा davā, दारू dārū, दवाई davāī, औखध aukhadh
treatment or cure: उपचार upcār, चिकित्सा cikitsā
field of study: चिकित्सा cikitsā, आयुर्विज्ञान āyurvijñān, आयुर्वेद āyurved

medicine in Tamil

profession: மருத்துவம் maruttuvam
substance which promotes healing: மருந்து maruntu
treatment or cure: மருத்துவம் maruttuvam
field of study: மருத்துவம் maruttuvam

medicine in Marathi

substance which promotes healing: औषध auṣadh

medicine in Urdu

substance which promotes healing: دَوَائِی davāī, دَوَا davā, دَارُو dārū
treatment or cure: دَوَا davā, عِلاج 'ilāj
field of study: طِبّ tibb

More languagesFewer languages

medicine in Bengali: ওষুধ ōśudh, ঔষধ ōuśodh, দাওয়াই daōẇai, এলাজ elaj
medicine in Telugu: మందు mandu, ఔషదం auṣadaṁ, వైద్యం vaidyaṁ
medicine in Malayalam: വൈദ്യം vaidyaṁ, മരുന്ന് marunnŭ, ഔഷധം auṣadhaṁ, വൈദ്യശാസ്ത്രം vaidyaśāstraṁ
medicine in Kannada: ಮದ್ದು maddu, ಔಷಧ auṣadha, ವೈದ್ಯವಿಜ್ಞಾನ vaidyavijñāna
medicine in Punjabi: ਦਵਾ davā, ਤਿੱਬ tibba
medicine in Gujarati: દવા davā, ઔષધ auṣadh
medicine in Odia: ଔଷଧ auṣadha
medicine in Sanskrit: औषध auṣadha, भेषज bheṣaja, अगद agada, आयुर्वेद āyurveda
medicine in Sinhala: ඔසුව osuwa, ඖෂධය auṣadhaya
medicine in Assamese: ঔষধ ouxodh, দৰৱ dorow
medicine in Nepali: औषधी ausadhi
medicine in Pashto: دوايي dawayí, دوا dawā
medicine in Tagalog: gamot, medisina, remedyo
medicine in Arabic: طِبّ ṭibb, دَوَاء dawāʔ, عِلَاج ʕilāj, شِفَاء šifāʔ
medicine in Malay: ubat, perubatan
medicine in Indonesian: dokter, obat, pengobatan, kedokteran
medicine in Thai: แพทย์ pɛ̂ɛt, ยา yaa, การรักษา gaan-rák-sǎa, แพทยศาสตร์ pɛ̂ɛt-tá-yá-sàat
medicine in Vietnamese: thuốc
medicine in Myanmar: ဆေး hce:, အာယုဗ္ဗေဒ ayubbeda.
Sindhi: دوا davā
Dzongkha: སྨན sman

Examples of medicine in a sentence

Not a day passes when I don't regret not having enrolled in medicine.
I’ve told him three times, but he won’t take his medicine.
The egg has, during the span of history, represented mystery, magic, medicine, food and omen.

All 40 example sentences with medicine

Synonyms of medicine

All synonyms of medicine

Forms of medicine

Noun
plural	medicines
alternative form (obsolete)	medicin
Verb
third-person singular present	medicines
present participle	medicining
past participle	medicined
past	medicined

Plural of medicine: medicines

Origin of medicine

From Middle English medicin, from Middle French medicine, from Old French medecine, from Latin medicīna (“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine of medicīnus (“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or surgeon”), from medicus (“a physician, surgeon”). The extended sense of "Indigenous magic" is a calque of Ojibwe mashkiki (“medicine”) or mide (or cognates in related languages) when used in compounds such as Grand Medicine Society, medicine lodge, medicine dance, medicine bag, medicine wheel, medicine man, Medicine Line, and bad medicine or place names such as Medicine Hat, Medicine Creek, etc. Displaced native Old English lybb (“drug, medicine”).

Words formed from medicine

Phrases with medicine

40 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about medicine

What does medicine mean?: Medicine means a substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.
What is medicine in Hindi?: Medicine in Hindi is चिकित्सा (cikitsā), औषधि (auṣdhi), औषध (auṣadh). See Medicine meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is medicine?: Medicine can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce medicine?: Medicine is pronounced /ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n/ (UK).
What is the plural of medicine?: The plural of medicine is medicines.

Words near medicine in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: medicine (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-uk-medicine.ogg, En-us-medicine.ogg.

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