painkiller
noun
pain·kill·er
| \ ˈpān-ˌki-lər
\
\
variants:
or less commonly pain-killer
Definition of painkiller
: something (such as a drug) that relieves pain
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Other Words from painkiller
pain-killing
\ ˈpān-ˌki-liŋ
\
or painkilling
adjective
\
or painkilling
adjective
Examples of painkiller in a Sentence
I took some over-the-counter painkillers for my headache.
a lot of painkillers have turned out to be addictive substances for patients
Recent Examples on the Web
Hospitals in West Virginia, including one system separately chaired by Gee, sued some of the largest makers of the powerful painkillers in April, seeking monetary damages to cover the costs of the crisis. — Julie Carr Smyth, Cincinnati.com, "John Kasich, Gordon Gee team up to steer opioid settlement cash to hospitals," 22 Aug. 2019 Opioids, a class of drugs that includes prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, have killed more than 400,000 people in the U.S. since 2000. — Washington Post, "2 drug companies settle with counties in opioid-crisis suit," 20 Aug. 2019 The panel’s call for increased scrutiny by primary care doctors is an effort to slow the deadly use of opioids, including street fentanyl and heroin as well as prescription painkillers, perhaps the worst public health crisis in a generation. — Jan Hoffman, BostonGlobe.com, "Screen all adult patients for drug abuse, national panel urges," 13 Aug. 2019 Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia are suing the pharmaceutical company and its owners for allegedly lying about the addictive nature of powerful painkillers that caused a national addiction epidemic. — Christopher Magan, Twin Cities, "Minnesota lawsuit takes aim at Sackler family’s alleged role in opioid crisis," 5 Aug. 2019 And death rates tied to methamphetamine and prescription opioid painkillers remain higher in rural areas, too. — Washington Post, "Cities now see more overdose deaths than rural areas," 2 Aug. 2019 In 2012, as the death toll from the nation's opioid crisis mounted, drug companies shipped out enough of the powerful and addictive painkillers for every man, woman and child in the U.S. to have nearly a 20-day supply. — Fortune, "As the Opioid Crisis Grew, Manufacturers Supplied and Doctors Prescribed Stronger Pills," 24 July 2019 The number of fatal overdoses related to opioids, first with prescription painkillers and later with illicit heroin and fentanyl, has been staggering. — Meredith Cohn, baltimoresun.com, "Talk of massive settlement begins as lawsuits against opioid industry mount in Maryland and elsewhere," 22 July 2019 The Louvre in Paris removed mentions of the Sackler family on Wednesday, becoming one of the first major museums to drop the name of the philanthropic family that also produces the powerful and addictive painkiller OxyContin. — Amy Gunia, Time, "The Louvre Removed the Name of OxyContin-Linked Sackler Family From Its Walls," 18 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'painkiller.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for painkiller
painkiller
noun
English Language Learners Definition of painkiller
: a drug that decreases or removes pain that you feel in your body
See the full definition for painkiller in the English Language Learners Dictionary
painkiller
noun
pain·kill·er
| \ -ˌkil-ər
\
\
Medical Definition of painkiller
: something (as a drug) that relieves pain
Other Words from painkiller
painkilling
\ -iŋ
\
adjective
\
adjective
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