Emetic

adj, noun

adj, noun ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An agent that induces vomiting.

    "As Jan McTavish notes, when the physician diagnosed the headache's origins in the digestive system, particularly constipation, the antidote might entail cathartics (substances that accelerate defecation) or emetics (inducers of vomiting) and other regulators of the digestive process."

  2. 2
    a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Causing nausea and vomiting.

Synonyms

All synonyms
vomitivevomitory;;abstergentanacathartic

Example

More examples

"As Jan McTavish notes, when the physician diagnosed the headache's origins in the digestive system, particularly constipation, the antidote might entail cathartics (substances that accelerate defecation) or emetics (inducers of vomiting) and other regulators of the digestive process."

Etymology

From French émétique, from Vulgar Latin *emeticus, from Ancient Greek ἐμετικός (emetikós), from ἔμετος (émetos, “vomit”); by surface analysis, em(esis) + -etic.

Related phrases

tartar emetic

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.