medicate

verb

med·​i·​cate ˈme-di-ˌkāt 

medicated; medicating

transitive verb

1

: to treat (someone or something) with or as if with medicine

medicate a condition

was medicated for pain/depression

… is happily living his life one day at a time since he stopped drinking and otherwise medicating himself …

—Charles Leerhsen

2

: to impregnate with a medicinal substance

medicated soap

Examples of medicate in a Sentence

The patient had been heavily medicated.

Recent Examples on the Web

Aidan and Kathy are fighting over how to best handle their youngest son — to medicate or not to medicate, that is the question. —Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 20 June 2025

Despite those incidents, an administrative hearing officer from the Bureau of Prisons ruled Coleman was not a danger to himself or others and decided not to medicate Coleman under a different law. —Alex Riggins, Mercury News, 29 Apr. 2025

Jason medicated with self-destructive behavior and throwing himself into his job, while Claire poured all of her emotions into her dancing. —Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 11 June 2025

But physicians are concerned about people medicating themselves with methylene blue. —Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 12 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin medicatus, past participle of medicare to heal, from medicus

First Known Use

circa 1623, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing medicate

• self-medicate

Rhymes for medicate

• abdicate
• abrogate
• acetate
• activate
• actuate
• adsorbate
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate

Medical Definition

medicate

transitive verb

med·​i·​cate ˈmed-ə-ˌkāt 

medicated; medicating

1

: to treat medicinally

2

: to impregnate with a medicinal substance

medicated soap