antidote

What it means

1. A remedy to counteract the effects of poison.

   She reached the hospital in time to receive the antidote for the snake venom.

   2 more examples

   Can'ſt thou not Miniſter to a minde diſeas'd, / Plucke from the Memory a rooted Sorrow, / Raze out the written troubles of the Braine, / And with ſome ſweet Obliuious Antidote / Cleanſe the ſtufft boſome, of that perillous ſtuffe / Which weighes vpon the heart?

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 149, column 2

   The druids […] believed that mistletoe could make barren animals fecund, and that it was an antidote to all poisons.

   2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 May 2021

   Synonyms: mithridatic, alexipharmic, alexipharmac, alexipharmacum, alexiteric, alexitery, treacle, theriac

2. figurativelySomething that counteracts or prevents something harmful.

   We need an antidote for this misinformation.

   1 more example

   It came in the shape of the White House military office Marine Corps aide who got off the president’s helicopter with him in Davos holding the “football”, the black briefcase carrying the codes for launching the 900 nuclear weapons the US has on alert at all times. It is the constant antidote to any temptation to laugh at Trump’s rants or gaffes.

   2026 January 21, Julian Borger, “Trump’s rambling Davos speech rehashes warped ideas of US supremacy”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2026

   Synonyms: remedy

In a sentence

She reached the hospital in time to receive the antidote for the snake venom.

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekἀντίδοτον“antidote, remedy”
2. Latinantidotum
3. Englishantidote

From Latin antidotum, from Ancient Greek ἀντίδοτον (antídoton, “antidote, remedy”), Clipping of ἀντίδοτον φάρμακον (antídoton phármakon, “drug given against”), from ἀντιδίδωμι (antidídōmi, “to give in return, repay”), from ἀντί (antí, “against”) + δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”). Compare French antidote.