ayahuasca

noun

aya·​hua·​sca ˌī-yə-ˈ(h)wä-skə 

: a psychoactive beverage containing dimethyltryptamine that is prepared especially from the bark of a woody vine (Banisteriopsis caapi of the family Malpighiaceae) and the leaves of a shrubby plant (Psychotria viridis of the family Rubiaceae) of South America

Note: Ayahuasca produces hallucinations and euphoria and is used chiefly for religious, ritualistic, and medicinal purposes. Alkaloids present in ayahuasca inhibit the breakdown of dimethyltryptamine in the liver and gastrointestinal tract by monoamine oxidase.

Ayahuasca has been traditionally used by indigenous groups and mestizo populations for getting in contact with the sacred or supernatural world, for political and artistic purposes, and also for healing.

—Rafael Guimarães dos Santos et al.

In Europe and North America, those who want to use ayahuasca for religious purposes have pitted the issue of religious freedom against the fear that the potion might be diverted to recreational drug users.

—Joanne Laucius

called also hoasca, yage

Examples of ayahuasca in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The ayahuasca appears to be working. —Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 13 Sep. 2025

Rodgers went on a darkness retreat, took an ayahuasca journey and lied about being vaccinated during his final years in Green Bay. —Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025

In May 2025, the Gaia Church in Spokane, Washington, became one of the first churches in America to receive the Drug Enforcement Administration exemption for the use of ayahuasca in religious ceremonies. —Pardis Mahdavi, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2025

Rather than a single standard ayahuasca recipe to analyze and deconstruct, ethnobotanists were faced with a plethora of different variants of the potion complicated by a gamut of admixture plants. —Literary Hub, 16 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

American Spanish

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ayahuasca

• tosca

Medical Definition

ayahuasca

noun

aya·​hua·​sca ˌī-ə-ˈ(h)wä-skə 

variants also ayahuasco

ˌī-ə-ˈ(h)wä-(ˌ)skō, -skə

: a psychoactive beverage containing dimethyltryptamine that is prepared especially from the bark of a woody vine (Banisteriopsis caapi of the family Malpighiaceae) and the leaves of a shrubby plant (Psychotria viridis of the family Rubiaceae) of South America

Note: Ayahuasca produces hallucinations and euphoria and is used chiefly for religious, ritualistic, and medicinal purposes. Alkaloids present in ayahuasca inhibit the breakdown of dimethyltryptamine in the liver and gastrointestinal tract by monoamine oxidase.

Ayahuasca has been traditionally used by indigenous groups and mestizo populations for getting in contact with the sacred or supernatural world, for political and artistic purposes, and also for healing.

—Rafael Guimaraes dos Santos et al., Archives of Clinical Psychiatry

Their fascination with ayahuasca stems from a little-known mind-altering compound called dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, a substance the sacred tea contains by the bucketload.

—Lisa Melton, New Scientist

also : the woody vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) from which ayahuasca is prepared

called also caapi, yage