truth serum
truth serum noun: a psychoactive medication, especially one administered by injection, which supposedly renders a person cooperative and disposed to respond honestly to questions.
Noun
truth serum (countable and uncountable, plural truth serums or truth sera)
- A psychoactive medication, especially one administered by injection, which supposedly renders a person cooperative and disposed to respond honestly to questions.
- There is a difference of opinion among criminologists as the relative merits of the truth serum test over the lie detector test. The former relies upon producing a state of near unconsciousness in the subject by injection of controlled dosages of sodium amytal.1948 September 11, “Mrs. Clark Agrees to Return With Lemay for Questioning”, in Milwaukee Journal, retrieved 16 Jul 2012, page 1
- "The British run torture centers in Cyprus where they beat their prisoners, inject them with truth serums, extract their teeth and fingernails," cried Athens' Voice of the Fatherland radio.1956 February 13, “Cyprus: Heat & Haggling”, in Time
- Synonyms:
- truth drug
truth serum meaning in Tamil
truth serum in Tamil
- உண்மை ஊனீர்
Examples of truth serum in a sentence
- Feeling as if she’d drunk truth serum, she said, “I had an anxiety attack driving over and I’m a little shaky.”1998, Alex Matthews, Vendetta’s Victim, Intrigue Press, published 1999, →ISBN, page 292:
- Heirens spent days in police custody and was given truth serum and a spinal tap before confessing to the Degnan killing and the earlier slayings of two women.2002 April 4, Jodi Wilgoren, “Illinois's Longest-Serving Inmate's New Hope of Freedom”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Jul 2012:
- I was tipsy enough that when Dubey asked me what had been the craziness I’d alluded to in my message, I blurted the whole story of Vijay as if we’d drunk truth serum.2010, Katrina Kittle, The Blessings of the Animals, Harper Perennial, →ISBN, page 329:
- It’s like your mirror has drunk truth serum!2017, Melissa Maker, Clean My Space: The Secret to Cleaning Better, Faster—and Loving Your Home Every Day, Avery, →ISBN, page 45:
Synonyms of truth serum
Forms of truth serum
| plural | truth serums |
|---|---|
| plural | truth sera |
Questions about truth serum
- What does truth serum mean?
- Truth serum means a psychoactive medication, especially one administered by injection, which supposedly renders a person cooperative and disposed to respond honestly to questions.
- What is truth serum in Tamil?
- Truth serum in Tamil is உண்மை ஊனீர். See Truth serum meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use truth serum in a sentence?
- Feeling as if she’d drunk truth serum, she said, “I had an anxiety attack driving over and I’m a little shaky.”
- What part of speech is truth serum?
- Truth serum is a noun.
- What is the plural of truth serum?
- The plural of truth serum is truth serums.
Words near truth serum in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: truth serum (page history and authors); truth serum (Tamil 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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “truth serum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/truth_serum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.