Meanings
plural sedatives
- medicineAn agent or drug that sedates, having a calming or soothing effect, or inducing sleep.
1 more example
Michael Jackson probably died after he rapidly injected himself with a dose of the surgical anesthetic propofol on top of a large dose of sedatives he swallowed when Dr. Conrad Murray was away, the defense’s propofol expert testified Friday. […] White also concluded that Jackson swallowed a large dose of lorazepam several hours earlier, which would have left "a very high concentration" of the sedative in his body.
2011 October 28, Alan Duke, “Michael Jackson gave himself fatal overdose, expert says”, in CNN, archived from the original on 29 Dec 2016Synonyms: sleeping pill, soporific, tranquilizer, anxiolytic, depressant, downer
comparative more sedative · superlative most sedative
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn agent or drug that sedates, having a calming or soothing effect, or inducing sleep.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivetending to soothe or tranquilize
nouna drug that reduces excitability and calms a person
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Medieval Latinsēdātīvus
- Anglo-Normansedatif
- Middle Englishsedatif
- Englishsedative
Inherited from Middle English sedatif, from Anglo-Norman sedatif, from Medieval Latin sēdātīvus, which itself likely influenced the modern spelling. By surface analysis, sedate + -ive.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُهَدِّئ, مُسَكِّن
- مُهَدِّئ (muhaddiʔ)an agent or drug that sedates
- مُسَكِّن (musakkin)an agent or drug that sedates
Bulgarian успокоителен, сънотворен
- успокоителен (uspokoitelen)calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- сънотворен (sănotvoren)calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Catalan sedant, sedant
- sedantan agent or drug that sedates
- sedantcalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Chinese Mandarin 鎮靜藥 /镇静药, 鎮靜劑 /镇静剂
- 鎮靜藥 /镇静药 (zhènjìngyào)an agent or drug that sedates
- 鎮靜劑 /镇静剂 (zhènjìngjì)an agent or drug that sedates
Czech sedativum, sedativní
- sedativuman agent or drug that sedates
- sedativnícalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Dutch kalmeringsmiddel, kalmerend
- kalmeringsmiddelan agent or drug that sedates
- kalmerendcalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Esperanto sedativo, trankviligilo
- sedativoan agent or drug that sedates
- trankviligiloan agent or drug that sedates
Finnish unilääke, rauhoituslääke
- unilääkean agent or drug that sedates
- rauhoituslääkean agent or drug that sedates
- sedatiivian agent or drug that sedates
- rauhoitean agent or drug that sedates
- rauhoittavacalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- unettavacalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- nukuttavacalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
French sédatif, sédatif
- sédatifan agent or drug that sedates
- sédatifcalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
German Beruhigungsmittel, beruhigend
- Beruhigungsmittelan agent or drug that sedates
- beruhigendcalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- sedativcalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Greek ηρεμιστικό, καταπραϋντικό
- ηρεμιστικό (iremistikó)an agent or drug that sedates
- καταπραϋντικό (katapraÿntikó)an agent or drug that sedates
- ηρεμιστικός (iremistikós)calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Hungarian nyugtatószer
- nyugtatószeran agent or drug that sedates
Indonesian obat penenang
- obat penenangan agent or drug that sedates
Italian sedativo, sedativo
- sedativoan agent or drug that sedates
- sedativocalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Japanese 鎮静剤
- 鎮静剤 (chinsei-zai)an agent or drug that sedates
Korean 진정제
- 진정제 (jinjeongje)an agent or drug that sedates
Polish środek uspokajający, uspokajający
- środek uspokajającyan agent or drug that sedates
- uspokajającycalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Portuguese sedativo, sedativo
- sedativoan agent or drug that sedates
- sedativocalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Russian успокои́тельное, седати́вное сре́дство
- успокои́тельное (uspokoítelʹnoje)an agent or drug that sedates
- седати́вное сре́дство (sedatívnoje srédstvo)an agent or drug that sedates
- успокои́тельный (uspokoítelʹnyj)calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- седати́вный (sedatívnyj)calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Slovak sedatívum, sedatívny
- sedatívuman agent or drug that sedates
- sedatívnycalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Spanish sedante, sedativo
- sedantean agent or drug that sedates
- sedativoan agent or drug that sedates
- sedantecalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- sedativocalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Swedish lugnande medel, sömnmedel
- lugnande medelan agent or drug that sedates
- sömnmedelan agent or drug that sedates
- lugnandecalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- sövandecalming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Ukrainian заспокійливий засіб, заспокійливе
- заспокійливий засіб (zaspokijlyvyj zasib)an agent or drug that sedates
- заспокійливе (zaspokijlyve)an agent or drug that sedates
- заспокі́йливий (zaspokíjlyvyj)calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
- седати́вний (sedatývnyj)calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing
Vietnamese làm dịu
- làm dịuan agent or drug that sedates
Welsh tawelydd
- tawelyddan agent or drug that sedates
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sedative
All rhymes →Cite this entry
sedative. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sedative
“sedative.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sedative. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sedative,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sedative.
Source: sedative on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.