gateway drug

noun

A typically legal or less harmful substance, such as marijuana, whose use is statistically associated with an increased likelihood of progressing to a more dangerous or illicit drug.

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Meanings

noungateway drug (plural gateway drugs)

plural gateway drugs

  1. idiomaticA typically legal or less harmful substance, such as marijuana, whose use is statistically associated with an increased likelihood of progressing to a more dangerous or illicit drug.
  2. broadlyfigurativelyAny thing or area of interest that tends to lead to a deeper involvement.

    It has been said that LINQ is a gateway drug for functional programming

    2014, Dave Fancher, Book of F#: Breaking Free with Managed Functional Programming, page XX
    1 more example

    Darn you, Downton Abbey, for being the gateway drug for all things BBC.

    2019, Emily Padraic, Under My Skin, page 3

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 入門毒品 /入门毒品, 入門途徑 /入门途径
  • 入門毒品 /入门毒品 (rùmén dúpǐn)substance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
  • 入門途徑 /入门途径 (rùmén tújìng)thing that tends to lead to deeper involvement
  • 引入之門 /引入之门thing that tends to lead to deeper involvement
Finnish porttihuume, portti
  • porttihuumesubstance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
  • porttithing that tends to lead to deeper involvement
German Einstiegsdroge
  • Einstiegsdrogesubstance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
Hungarian kapudrog
  • kapudrogsubstance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
Polish furtka, furtka
  • furtkasubstance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
  • furtkathing that tends to lead to deeper involvement
Portuguese droga de entrada
  • droga de entradasubstance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
Russian шлюз, ста́ртовый нарко́тик
  • шлюз (šljuz)substance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
  • ста́ртовый нарко́тик (stártovyj narkótik)substance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
  • перехо́дный нарко́тик (perexódnyj narkótik)substance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
Spanish droga iniciática
  • droga iniciáticasubstance believed to encourage the user to experiment with more harmful substances
Cite this entry
APA

gateway drug. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gateway%20drug

MLA

“gateway drug.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gateway%20drug. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gateway drug,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gateway%20drug.

Source: gateway drug on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.