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Glite Dictionary
antipruritic

antipruritic

8.9
A medicine that reduces or prevents skin itching
  • noun
  • /ˌæntiˈprʊrɪtɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : antiprurítico
  • The doctor prescribed an antipruritic cream to soothe the itchy rash.

Examples

  • All antipruritic therapy was stopped a week before the study.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The patients had persistent pruritus, resistant to treatments such as antihistamines, intravenous lignocaine, antipruritic lotions, ultraviolet therapy, ketotifen, and cholestyramine.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Using an antipruritic medication can help alleviate persistent skin irritation.

  • Many people find that an antipruritic lotion provides relief after mosquito bites.

Synonyms

antihistamine
vsantipruritic
  • Specialized
20 3.7

A medicine that stops allergy symptoms like sneezing and itching

is used to relieve or prevent itching regardless of mechanism
anti-itch cream
vsantipruritic
1 2.4

A cream you put on the skin to stop itching

is any substance used for itching, not limited to topical forms

Antonyms

irritant
15 6.0

Something that causes discomfort or annoyance, like dust and some cleaners

How Soothing

steroid
  • Specialized
121 3.9
antipruritic
  • Specialized
8.9
emollient
  • Specialized
1 7.5
nontreatment
  • Specialized
7.8

Surface Forms

antipruritic singular
antipruritics plural

Morphology

antipruritic = pruritic (transparent) = anti + prurit + ic

The word is built by adding anti- to the medical adjective pruritic, so the meaning 'against itching' is straightforward from the parts.

Etymology

The word antipruritic comes from anti- 'against' and the old Latin word prurire 'to itch'. So an antipruritic is a medicine or cream that works 'against' an 'itch' to stop skin irritation.