synthetic heroin
1
7.2
- noun
- /sɪnˈθɛtɪk ˈhɛroʊɪn/
- NSFW
:
heroína sintética
Examples
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Those who try the variety called angel dust, a synthetic heroin, often wind up crazy or dead.
Fiction book (1991) -
Doctors sometimes prescribe synthetic heroin to help patients who are recovering from opioid addiction.
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The availability of synthetic heroin in the community poses a serious risk to recovering addicts.
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Research shows that synthetic heroin can be effective in reducing withdrawal symptoms in those trying to quit heroin.
Synonyms
54
5.6
A medicine that treats pain and helps people stop using heroin
A man-made medicine that helps people with heroin addiction by reducing withdrawal symptoms
A medicine made in a lab that treats heroin or morphine addiction by reducing withdrawal symptoms
How Addictive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a man-made form of heroin' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'synthetic' (chemically produced, not natural) with 'heroin' (the narcotic). This adjective+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Synthetic heroin comes from the idea of a synthetic 'made in a lab' version of heroin. Doctors give this man-made drug to 'help people manage withdrawal' or 'replace illegal heroin' while they recover, so the name explains its medical use today.