anticholinergic
1
9.5
- noun
- /ˌæntiˌkoʊlɪˈnɜrdʒɪk/
- Specialized
:
anticolinérgico
- Pre-medication with an anticholinergic can help patients manage symptoms during surgery.
Examples
-
The doctor prescribed an anticholinergic to treat the patient's overactive bladder.
-
Both of these can be used with the long-acting, once-daily anticholinergic, tiotropium.
Academic text (2012) -
In treating motion sickness, an anticholinergic can be effective in blocking nausea.
Synonyms
A drug that blocks a nerve chemical called acetylcholine in the nervous system
Antonyms
- Specialized
1
9.2
Related to nerve cells that use the chemical acetylcholine to send messages
Compounds
- Specialized
A drug that blocks a nerve chemical called acetylcholine in the nervous system
How Blocking
- Specialized
1
5.9
- Specialized
1
9.5
- Specialized
1
5.8
- Specialized
4
5.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
anticholinergic = anticholinergic (semi-transparent) = anti + cholin + ergic
The noun sense is a zero-derived substantive use of the adjective form, but the overall term is still technically specialized and not fully obvious to average learners.
Etymology
Anticholinergic breaks into anti- 'against', cholin- from acetylcholine, a 'chemical that helps nerves send messages', and -ergic like in allergic meaning 'related to action'. So an anticholinergic is a substance that works 'against' acetylcholine and blocks its action.