Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sedative

/ˈsɛdətɪv/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.99 in modern English

Syllables: sed-a-tive
IPA: /ˈsɛdətɪv/

12

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An agent or drug that sedates, having a calming or soothing effect, or inducing sleep.

adj

Calming, soothing, inducing sleep, tranquilizing

Example Sentences

"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."

Etymology

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.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: sedatif, sēdātīvus

Inflected Forms

sedatives (plural) more sedative (comparative) most sedative (superlative)

Derived Forms

analgosedative equisedative hypnosedative monosedative nonsedative subsedative

Phrases

salt sedative sedative salt

Synonyms

sleeping pill soporific tranquilizer anxiolytic depressant downer ataractic ataraxic

Rhymes With

give live forgive liv tel aviv expansive div relive shiv sieve outlive invective

Questions

How do you pronounce sedative?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈsɛdətɪv/.
What does sedative mean?: An agent or drug that sedates, having a calming or soothing effect, or inducing sleep.
Where does sedative come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce sedative

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sedative”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈsɛdətɪv/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sedative”.
Repeat and practice — Say “sedative” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.