ANESTHETIC Synonyms: 57 Similar and Opposite Words

anesthetic 1 of 2

noun

Definition of anesthetic next

as in sedative

something (as a drug) that relieves pain the dentist waited until the anesthetic took effect

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as in narcotic

something that soothes, calms, or induces passivity or a sense of security he used total immersion in his job as an anesthetic for the empty shell that his marriage had become

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anesthetic

2 of 2

adjective

as in analgesic

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples of anesthetic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Ketamine was originally developed in the 1960s as an anesthetic — an application for which it is still used today. —

Andrea Kane, CNN, 31 Aug. 2024 Ketamine, a legal medication commonly used as an anesthetic, has gained popularity in recent years as both a clinical treatment for depression and a recreational drug. —

Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2024

Adjective

Doctors should tell their patients that the local anesthetic lidocaine could be useful for reducing the pain of the procedure, the CDC now says. —

Alexander Tin, CBS News, 13 Aug. 2024 Remarkably, an earlier experiment claimed that its anesthetic potency, measured as the concentration of the gas that induces immobility, depends on the specific isotopes of xenon. —

Hartmut Neven, Scientific American, 8 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for anesthetic

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