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A droplet of this, a skosh of that. Now you take that home, throw it in a beaker, and add a touch of ethyl alcohol to hold it all together—baby, you’ve got a tincture going. Tincture is a word with a colorful past most often encountered today in reference to a solution consisting of a medicinal substance mixed with alcohol, as in “Carl weathers his cold with a tincture of echinacea.” When the word first appeared in English in the 14th century, tincture referred to a substance used to color, dye, or stain, but by the 17th century the word had acquired several additional meanings, including “a slight infusion or trace of something.” This sense is still in use today, especially figuratively, as when an aspiring actor is said to feel a “tincture of doubt that the acting lessons are worth what he paid.”
Examples of tincture in a Sentence
Taryn White, Travel + Leisure, 2 Nov. 2025
The other compared that same proprietary cannabis tincture with opioids.
—NPR, 20 Oct. 2025
Jon Pareles, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2020
That sartorial elegance bespoke a deep embrace of tradition, tinctured with just the right amount of satire to be amusing.
—Roger Kimball, WSJ, 15 May 2018
See All Example Sentences for tincture
Cite this Entry
“Tincture.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tincture. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
tincture
noun
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