noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A powerful synthetic analgesic drug which is similar to morphine in its effects but less sedative and is used as a substitute drug in the treatment of morphine and heroin addiction. countable, uncountable

   "But methadone is a dangerous drug. If taken orally by a nonaddict, it can cause euphoria or even death."

2. 2
   synthetic narcotic drug similar to morphine but less habit-forming; used in narcotic detoxification and maintenance of heroin addiction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

alcoholamidoneamobarbital sodiumamytalamytal pillanalgesic

Example

More examples

"Methadone is commonly prescribed as a pain killer."

Etymology

From (di)meth(yl)a(mino) + d(iphenyl) + (heptan)one.

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