pill pusher
- noun
- Offensive
:
traficante de pastillas
- The doctor warned his patients to stay away from any pill pusher promising miracle cures.
Examples
-
She was accused of being a pill pusher after several patients became addicted to painkillers.
-
Authorities arrested the suspected pill pusher for distributing prescription medications without a license.
-
That doctor is a notorious pill pusher!
-
Many people consider him a pill pusher.
-
The authorities arrested a pill pusher who was illegally selling prescription drugs.
-
Residents complained about the pill pusher operating out of the basement of an abandoned house.
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She warned her friends to stay away from the pill pushers that were known to prey on vulnerable people.
Synonyms
384
6.5
A person who buys and sells illegal goods like drugs and stolen items
246
4.8
A person who sells illegal drugs
62
8.0
A person who illegally buys and sells goods or people
21
8.4
A person who sells illegal drugs to other people
16
6.2
A person who illegally buys and sells large amounts of drugs
4
8.1
A person who secretly sells illegal drugs
1
7.4
A person who sells illegal drugs, often on the street
1
9.9
A person who sells illegal drugs, especially heroin
A person who sells illegal drugs on the street
How Illegal
- NSFW
62
8.0
- Offensive
- NSFW
246
4.8
- NSFW
384
6.5
257
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound directly combines 'pill' (a tablet/drug) with 'pusher' (a person who sells or supplies drugs), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes someone who sells/promotes pills or drugs. The illicit or unethical nuance is signalled by 'pusher' and the overall meaning is compositionally predictable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
The phrase pill pusher comes from the image of someone who pushes pills onto people, selling them aggressively like a drug pusher. So it is used for a person who illegally or unethically 'sells drugs'.