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Glite Dictionary
🤧 Causing sneezing 🤧 A sneeze chemical
sternutatory

sternutatory

9.9
A substance that makes people sneeze and their eyes water
  • noun
  • /ˌstɜrnjuˈtætəri/
  • Specialized
translation icon : esternutatorio
  • Exposure to a sternutatory can cause intense sneezing and irritation of the eyes.

Examples

  • The police dispersed the protesters by releasing a sternutatory into the crowd.

  • Researchers tested the effects of the sternutatory in a controlled laboratory setting.

  • A sternutatory can cause sneezing.

  • The sternutatory made him sneeze!

  • The doctor explained that the sternutatory in the air caused a severe allergic reaction in the patients.

  • During the experiment, the sternutatory produced uncontrollable sneezing among the participants.

  • The use of a sternutatory in the demonstration highlighted its effects on respiratory responses.

Synonyms

tear-gas
vssternutatory
  • NSFW
57 4.4

A chemical that makes eyes water and people cough to make crowds move away

is similar but also causes sneezing specifically rather than only eye irritation
chemical irritant
vssternutatory
  • Specialized
1 4.8

A substance that makes skin, eyes or breathing feel sore, like tear gas

is narrower, focusing on sneezing, coughing, and often causing tears
sternutator
vssternutatory
  • Specialized
9.9

A chemical that makes people sneeze, cough, and cry to make a crowd leave

is used mainly as a general irritant rather than for crowd control

Surface Forms

sternutatory singular
sternutatories plural

Morphology

sternutatory = sternut + atory

The word is built from a rare bound stem meaning 'sneeze' plus a learned suffix, so an average learner is unlikely to infer the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

The noun sternutatory comes from the Latin verb sternutare, which means 'to sneeze'. A sternutatory is a substance that makes you sneeze and irritates the eyes, like pepper spray or tear gas, so the name shows its effect.