antitussive
1
7.0
A medicine that helps stop coughing
- noun
- /ˌæntiˈtʌsɪv/
- Specialized
:
antitusígeno
- The doctor prescribed an antitussive to help relieve her persistent cough.
Examples
-
Many over-the-counter cold medicines contain an antitussive to soothe throats and reduce coughing.
-
For dry coughs, an antitussive can provide much-needed relief during flu season.
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Whether these antitussive properties translate into clinical improvements is yet to be tested.
Academic text (2017)
Antonyms
How Effective
Surface Forms
antitussive singular
antitussives plural
Morphology
antitussive = tussive (semi-transparent) = anti + tuss + ive
The word is built regularly by prefixing anti- to the medical adjective tussive, but tussive itself is uncommon for most learners.
Etymology
Antitussive combines anti- meaning 'against', as in antibiotic, and tussis meaning 'cough'. So it literally means 'against cough' and is a medicine that stops or reduces coughing.