Word.ws English Dictionary

nootropic

US/ˌnoʊəˈtɹoʊpɪk/

nootropic noun: any substance purported to increase or enhance cognitive abilities.

Noun

nootropic (plural nootropics)

  1. Any substance purported to increase or enhance cognitive abilities.
    • Nootropics also include extracted and purified components of medicinal plants, as well as substances synthesized from chemical precursors, such as piracetam, the world's first official nootropic (piracetam was created in 1964 in Belgium by a team of scientists whose leader, Dr. Corneliu E. Giurgea...2012 January 30, Ari LeVaux, “Experimenting With Nootropics to Increase Mental Capacity, Clarity”, in The Atlantic
  2. A drug that enhances learning and memory and lacks the usual pharmacology of other psychotropic drugs (e.g. sedation, motor stimulation) and possesses very few side effects and extremely low toxicity.

Adjective

nootropic (comparative more nootropic, superlative most nootropic)

  1. Relating to substances that enhance cognitive performance.
    • It's triggered and explosion of “functional” drinks featuring adaptogenic and nootropic ingredients; plants that in some cases have been used for thousands of years to boost mood and cognitive performance.2023 May 28, Alice Lascelles, “What’s the buzz?”, in HTSI, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 61

Synonyms of nootropic

Forms of nootropic

Noun
pluralnootropics
alternative formnoötropic
Adjective
comparativemore nootropic
superlativemost nootropic

Origin of nootropic

Coined by Romanian psychologist and chemist Corneliu E. Giurgea in 1972, derived from the Ancient Greek words νόος (nóos, “mind”) and τροπέω (tropéō, “to turn”). By surface analysis, noo(s) + -tropic, literally “mind changing”.

Questions about nootropic

What does nootropic mean?
Nootropic means any substance purported to increase or enhance cognitive abilities.
What part of speech is nootropic?
Nootropic can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce nootropic?
Nootropic is pronounced /ˌnoʊəˈtɹoʊpɪk/ (US).
What is the plural of nootropic?
The plural of nootropic is nootropics.

Words near nootropic in the dictionary

  1. nootkatanes
  2. nootkatone
  3. nootkatones
  4. Nootkian
  5. Nootkians
  6. nootropic
  7. nootropics
  8. Nootsack
  9. Nootsacks
  10. nooz
  11. nooze

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nootropic (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nootropic.wav.

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