medication
Americannoun
-
the use or application of medicine.
-
a medicinal substance; medicament.
noun
-
treatment with drugs or remedies
-
a drug or remedy
Other Word Forms
- antimedication adjective
- hypermedication noun
- overmedication noun
Etymology
Origin of medication
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin medicātiōn- (stem of medicātiō ). See medicate, -ion
Explanation
If your doctor prescribes something for you to take, it's medication. Medication is another way to say "medicine" or "drug." Your poison ivy rash might be so bad that you need to take medication to stop the itching. People need medication for all sorts of illnesses and disorders throughout their lives, from headache medication to medication for cancer treatment. In the fifteenth century, the word meant "medical treatment of a disease or wound," from the Latin medicationem, "healing or cure," with its root in medicus, which means both "healing" and "physician."
Vocabulary lists containing medication
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Pharmacy Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If she forgets to take her seizure medication, Ponce said, she can have several episodes a day.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026
Do you wish that at a certain point, after he went to therapy, that he had taken medication, even if it meant he stopped pursuing such monumental acts?
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
"Look at what this medication has done to me? Why would I put it on my own son?" she remembers screaming.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
As new options pop up, patients have more control over how they take the medication and how they pay for it.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026
Dad and I both took medication for depression.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
