💊 Anxiety medicine 💊 Reduces anxiety

anxiolytic

9.5

Making someone feel less anxious and tense

adjective
/ˌæŋk.si.oʊˈlɪt.ɪk/

Specialized

: anxiolítico

Many people find that taking an anxiolytic before a flight calms their nerves.
anxiolytic effect

You know, like it's the anxiolytic effect of just fearing the tiger in a I'm going to guess tigers don't live in caves.

Examples

The doctor prescribed an anxiolytic to help her manage her anxiety during stressful situations.
She was started on an anxiolytic medication, and she underwent counseling for panic disorder at the recommendation of the psychiatry service.

Academic text (2006)
Anxiolytic and sedative drugs are also associated with falling.

Academic text (2008)
Another important variable that has been studied in the anxiety literature is the notion of a delayed anxiolytic effect.

Academic text (2006)
An anxiolytic like diazepam can significantly reduce feelings of panic and fear.

Synonyms

sedative

vsanxiolytic

2 5.8

Calming and making someone feel sleepy

reduces anxiety without necessarily causing sleepiness

ataraxic

vsanxiolytic

Specialized

9.9

Causing calm and reducing worry

focuses specifically on reducing anxiety rather than general soothing

Compounds

anxiolytic drug

Specialized

5.8

A drug that reduces worry and calms tension

How Calming

anxiolytic

Specialized

9.5

calming

6 2.6

soothing

81 2.9

Surface Forms

anxiolytic positive

Morphology

anxiolytic = anxiety (semi-transparent) = anxi + lytic

The adjective is formed from the same base as the noun ('anxiety' + '-lytic'); the medical/technical suffix may not be fully transparent to all learners.

Etymology

Anxiolytic comes from the same parts: anxio- 'anxiety' and -lytic 'to loosen'. That's why we call something anxiolytic when it reduces anxiety or helps a person feel calmer.