thalidomide
/θəˈlɪ.dəˌmaɪd/
thalidomide noun: an immunomodulatory drug used to treat a number of cancers and skin disorders, historically promoted as a sedative and medication for morning sickness.
Noun
thalidomide (countable and uncountable, plural thalidomides)
- An immunomodulatory drug used to treat a number of cancers and skin disorders, historically promoted as a sedative and medication for morning sickness.
- I have tried all the medium and short acting non-barbiturate sedatives since the war (including thalidomide) but they don’t work and I don’t trust the newfangled long acting, “safe” analgesics.1988, E[dward] J[ames] Moran Campbell, Not Always on the Level, [London]: British Medical Journal, →ISBN, page 194
- I can't stand to see your thalidomide robot face2001, “Left Behind”, in Corey Taylor (lyrics), Iowa, performed by Slipknot, Los Angeles, California
Forms of thalidomide
| plural | thalidomides |
|---|---|
| alternative form | phthalidomide |
Origin of thalidomide
From (ph)thal(ic acid) + (im)ido + (i)mide. The chemical was synthesized and marketed in the 1950s.
Words formed from thalidomide
Phrases with thalidomide
Questions about thalidomide
- What does thalidomide mean?
- Thalidomide means an immunomodulatory drug used to treat a number of cancers and skin disorders, historically promoted as a sedative and medication for morning sickness.
- What part of speech is thalidomide?
- Thalidomide is a noun.
- How do you pronounce thalidomide?
- Thalidomide is pronounced /θəˈlɪ.dəˌmaɪd/.
- What is the plural of thalidomide?
- The plural of thalidomide is thalidomides.
Words near thalidomide in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thalidomide (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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Cite this entry: “thalidomide.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thalidomide. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.