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Glite Dictionary
antidiarrheal drug

antidiarrheal drug

3.1
A drug that stops or reduces diarrhea
  • noun
  • /ˌæntiˈdaɪəˌril drʌg/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fármaco antidiarreico
  • After several days of stomach issues, I decided to take an antidiarrheal drug to alleviate my symptoms.

Examples

  • The doctor recommended an antidiarrheal drug to help control my frequent bouts of diarrhea.

  • A useful and inexpensive source for information may be drug distributors, some of which can provide figures on monthly sales of over-the-counter antidiarrheal drugs.

    Academic text (1997)

  • She always carries an antidiarrheal drug when traveling to avoid discomfort from unexpected stomach problems.

Synonyms

Lomotil
vsantidiarrheal drug
  • Specialized
1 8.2

A medicine that helps stop severe diarrhea

is the general medicine type rather than a single branded product
antidiarrheal
vsantidiarrheal drug
  • Specialized
3.7

A medicine that stops or reduces diarrhea

is the same meaning but uses a fuller phrase that makes the medicine explicit

Antonyms

laxative
  • Specialized
18 4.1

A medicine that helps the body pass stool

Surface Forms

antidiarrheal drug singular
antidiarrheal drugs plural

Morphology

antidiarrheal + drug

The meaning 'a drug used to control or stop diarrhea' is directly compositional: 'antidiarrheal' (counteracting diarrhea) combined with 'drug' (medicine) yields a medicine for diarrhea. This follows regular morphological compounding and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will understand it.

Etymology

The noun antidiarrheal drug comes from the parts anti meaning 'against' and diarrheal meaning 'diarrhea', so picture a medicine that acts like a plug or stop sign to slow the flow. That's why it means a medicine used to 'control' or 'stop' diarrhea.