prescription drug

noun

: a drug that can be obtained only by means of a physician's prescription

Examples of prescription drug in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Cory Richey, 39, pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court last month and avoided jail time as part of a plea deal SAN DIEGO — A veteran San Diego County sheriff’s deputy who took prescription drugs from a drop-off box at the Vista station was sentenced Monday to two years of probation. David Hernandez, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Sep. 2023 As many as 9,000 Americans die each year after receiving the wrong prescription drugs or doses. Elvia Limón, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2023 Dealers are less likely to try to disguise it as a counterfeit prescription drug because consumers are asking for fentanyl pills now. Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 5 Sep. 2023 Look, this past week, this movement to reduce prescription drug prices, that's going to help Democrats. ABC News, 3 Sep. 2023 Biden administration names 10 prescription drugs for price negotiations Most of the drugs that made the initial list for negotiation were widely expected by industry analysts — including Eliquis, a blood thinner that represented Medicare’s largest expenditure for an individual drug in 2021. Daniel Gilbert, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2023 In the past, TikTok has also struggled with moderating content that appeared prominently in search results — last year, the platform pulled several videos that promoted the use of prescription drugs as weight loss ads after researchers found TikTok was surfacing them in search. Mia Sato, The Verge, 22 Aug. 2023 The pill-tracking device has a pattern-analysis algorithm that aims to help prevent prescription drug misuse. IEEE Spectrum, 19 Aug. 2023 On August 29, the Biden-Harris administration announced the names of 10 prescription drugs that will be eligible for price negotiation by the Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Rachel Murphy, Verywell Health, 1 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prescription drug.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1872, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of prescription drug was in 1872

Dictionary Entries Near prescription drug

Cite this Entry

“Prescription drug.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prescription%20drug. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

Medical Definition

prescription drug

noun
: a drug that can be obtained only by means of a physician's prescription

More from Merriam-Webster on prescription drug

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