agonist
noun
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Definition of agonist
1 : one that is engaged in a struggle
2 [ from antagonist ]
a : a muscle that is controlled by the action of an antagonist with which it is paired
b : a chemical substance capable of combining with a specific receptor on a cell and initiating the same reaction or activity typically produced by the binding endogenous substance dopaminergic agonists — compare antagonist sense 2b
Examples of agonist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Chances are that your bacon this morning came from pork fed with ractopamine, a beta-agonist that bulks up the pig but can adversely affect the human cardiovascular system and even cause chromosomal abnormalities. — Eugenia Bone, WSJ, "‘The Poison Squad’ Review: Ever Wonder What’s In It?," 27 Sep. 2018 GnRH agonists suppress ovulation and essentially induce premature menopause. — Zahra Barnes, SELF, "11 Symptoms of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder You Shouldn’t Ignore," 6 Feb. 2018 Among people with opioid addictions, taking an opioid agonist reduces the odds of relapsing into drug use and dying from an overdose. — Brian Barnett, STAT, "Jails and prisons: the unmanned front in the battle against the opioid epidemic," 2 July 2018 The partisan agonists are not wrong about the significance of the moment. — Massimo Calabresi, Time, "With Justice Kennedy Gone, It's Trump's Court Now," 28 June 2018 Other chemicals, called antagonists, shut down the receptors by preventing the agonists from entering. — Jonathon Keats, Discover Magazine, "Building a Better Painkiller," 11 May 2018 Buprenorphine is considered a partial agonist, that works similarly to methadone as a replacement medication. — Rita Giordano, Philly.com, "Opioid addiction treatment with medicine works best. Why don't more young people get it?," 11 Apr. 2018 There are also gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which can block the production of hormones that stimulate your ovaries and keep you from having a period, Greves explains. — Korin Miller, Allure, "This Is What Endometriosis Pain Feels Like — and How to Treat It," 6 Mar. 2018 Many players only train up the easily visible Quadriceps but forget the Hamstrings in the back, leading to an agonist/antagonist imbalance that results in excess strain on the weaker hamstrings. — SI.com, "Injury Analysis: Everything You Need to Know About Dybala’s Hamstring Injury in 1 Minute," 7 Jan. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'agonist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for agonist
agonist
noun
\
Medical Definition of agonist
1
: a muscle that on contracting is automatically checked and controlled by the opposing simultaneous contraction of another muscle
— called also
agonist muscle, prime mover
2 : a chemical substance (as a drug) capable of combining with a receptor on a cell and initiating the same reaction or activity typically produced by the binding of an endogenous substance binding of adrenergic agonists — compare antagonist sense b
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