What does "expectorant" mean?

An agent or drug used to cause or induce the expulsion of phlegm from the lungs.

Expectorant

Q: What is a synonym for "expectorant"?

Common synonyms include: adjuvant, counterirritant, expectorative, expectorator, hormone, vitamin.

adj, noun

adj, noun ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
An agent or drug used to cause or induce the expulsion of phlegm from the lungs.
"The disease was regarded as pneumonia so far advanced that suppuration seemed to have supervened; bleeding, blisters, expectorants, and cathartics diminished the symptoms; the pulse continued frequent, hard, full, but always regular."
2
a medicine promoting expectoration wordnet

Adjective

1
Causing or assisting the expulsion of phlegm. not-comparable
"an expectorant preparation"

Synonyms

All synonyms

adjuvant counterirritant expectorative expectorator hormone vitamin

Example

More examples

"The disease was regarded as pneumonia so far advanced that suppuration seemed to have supervened; bleeding, blisters, expectorants, and cathartics diminished the symptoms; the pulse continued frequent, hard, full, but always regular."

Etymology

From expectorate + -ant.

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