Meanings
- uncountablemedicineA trade name of pentobarbital.
He glanced at the bottles and was surprised to see that one contained nembutal sleeping-pills. Perhaps her nerves had been more shaken by the events at the villa than he had imagined.
1953, Ian Fleming, “Fruit Défendu”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 1681 more example
Nearly every pharmaceutical house has its own brands, sold in tablets, solutions or brightly-colored capsules, on which its “detail men” keep doctors informed. Probably the most popular successors to Veronal are Seconal (“red birds” to the bootleg trade) and Nembutal (“yellow jackets”).
1952 October 13, Richard L. Williams, “‘To sleep: perchance…’”, in Life, volume 33, number 15, page 110
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna barbiturate (trade name Nembutal) used as a sedative and hypnotic and antispasmodic
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Brand name.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
nembutal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nembutal
“nembutal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nembutal. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nembutal,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nembutal.
Source: nembutal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.