Meanings
plural Valiums
- countableuncountabletrademarkmedicineThe drug diazepam.
These are the minor tranquilizers such as Diazepam (Valium), Chlordiazepoxide (Librium), Oxazepam (Serax), and related benzodiazepines, and Meprobamate, which are used to treat anxiety neurosis.
1979, Harold M. Silverman, Gilbert I. Simon, The Pill Book […] , 1st edition, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 3851 more example
Mothers little helpers were pills—Miltown, amphetamine, barbiturates, Librium, and Valium were the most popular and widely available in the fifties and early sixties—that were used to keep women in their place, to make them comfortable in a setting that should have been uncomfortable, to encourage them to focus on tasks that did not matter.
2003, Samuel H. Barondes, quoting Peter D. Kramer, chapter 4, in Better than Prozac, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 47 - countableA Valium pill.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna tranquilizer (trade name Valium) used to relieve anxiety and relax muscles; acts by enhancing the inhibitory actions of the neurotransmitter GABA; can also be used as an anticonvulsant drug in cases of nerve agent poisoning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
A marketing coinage.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Valium
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
Valium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Valium
“Valium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Valium. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Valium,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Valium.
Source: Valium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.