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pharmacy

pharmacy

141 2.3
A shop that sells medicines and other health items
  • noun
  • /ˈfɑːrməsi/
translation icon : farmacia
  • It was kind of like your drugstore and your pharmacy and your like grocery store in one store.
  • pharmacies fill prescriptions
  • pharmacies dispense
  • buy at pharmacies

I think we stand outside of pharmacies and protest Viagra.

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Examples

  • I've got to go to the pharmacy to get amicar for Matt.

  • Following his doctor's advice, Samuel went to the pharmacy and became instantly frustrated and overwhelmed.

    Academic text (2008)
  • I buy this from a German pharmacy online.

  • I could take a heat pack like the kind you buy at the pharmacy, break it up, gets hot.

  • The pharmacy should have some.

  • You can pick it up at the pharmacy.

  • This life saving medication should be affordable and available at every pharmacy in the country.

  • Did you pick up the Preparation H from the pharmacy?

  • Drive straight to a pharmacy and buy some ointment for this child,' I said.

    Academic text (2015)
  • I was running home from the pharmacy when I slipped and fell.

Synonyms

drugstore
vspharmacy
  • US
103 1.0

A shop that sells medicine and everyday items like soap and snacks

focuses mainly on medicines and health products rather than general goods
chem
vspharmacy
  • UK
9 8.9

A shop that sells medicines and fills prescriptions

is the neutral, standard name rather than informal slang
dispensary
vspharmacy
6 4.7

A place in a hospital or clinic where staff prepare and give out medicines to patients

is a public retail shop selling medicines and health items to customers
chemist's shop
vspharmacy
  • UK
1 1.9

A shop that sells medicines and other health items like toiletries

is the general term used beyond British English
pharm
vspharmacy
  • Informal
1 8.1

A shop that sells medicines and fills prescriptions

is the full, standard term instead of informal shortening
chemist's
vspharmacy
  • UK
1.3

A shop where you buy medicines and other health items

is the general name used worldwide for such shops
apothecary's shop
vspharmacy
  • Archaic
9.9

A shop where a person makes and sells medicines and home remedies

is the modern, common type of shop rather than a historical one

How Comprehensive

pharmacy
141 2.3
dispensary
6 4.7

Surface Forms

pharmacy singular
pharmacies plural

Morphology

pharmacy = pharmac + acy

Although composed of the combining form 'pharmac' + the noun-forming suffix '-acy', the meaning 'shop where medicines are sold' is not transparently derivable by learners from those parts because 'pharmac' is not a familiar standalone English word.

Etymology

Pharmacy comes from the Greek word pharmakon, which means 'medicine' or 'drug', and long ago it was used for places that kept medicines. So a pharmacy today is a shop where you buy or pick up medicines and other health items.