opioid

plural opioids

1. A substance that has effects similar to opium:
   1. medicineAny of the natural substances, such as an endorphin, released in the body in response to pain; an endogenous opioid.

      Mechoulam concluded that our bodies must produce their own cannabinoids — endogenous molecules that, like the native opioids and nicotinelike molecules our bodies also make, engage the cannabinoid receptors throughout the human body.

      2019 May 14, Moises Velasquez-Manoff, “Can CBD Really Do All That?”, in The New York Times Magazine

   2. medicineAny of a group of synthetic compounds that exhibit similarities to the opium alkaloids that occur in nature.

      The number of young children in the US who have died from opioid overdoses has increased significantly, according to a new study on accidental poisonings of children 5 and younger.

      2023 March 8, Jen Christensen, “Young children are increasingly victims of opioid epidemic, study finds”, in CNN