Adjacent Words

Purgative definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PURG'ATIVE, a. Having the power of cleansing; usually,having the power of evacuating the bowels; cathartic.
PURG'ATIVE, n. A medicine that evacuates the bowels; a cathartic.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: strongly laxative [syn: cathartic, evacuant, purgative] n
1: a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels [syn: purgative, cathartic, physic, aperient]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English purgatif, from Late Latin purgativus, from Latin purgatus, past participle Date: 15th century purging or tending to purge II. noun Date: 1576 a purging medicine ; cathartic

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 serving to purify. 2 strongly laxative. --n. 1 a purgative thing. 2 a laxative. Etymology: ME f. OF purgatif -ive or LL purgativus (as PURGE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Purgative Pur"ga*tive, a. [L. purgativus: cf. F. purgatif.] Having the power or quality of purging; cathartic. -- n. (Med.) A purging medicine; a cathartic.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(purgatives) 1. A purgative is a medicine that causes you to get rid of unwanted waste from your body. (FORMAL) = laxative N-COUNT 2. A purgative substance acts as a purgative. (FORMAL) ...purgative oils. ...a purgative tea. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. Cathartic, abstergent, abstersive, cleansing, purifying, evacuant, detersive, detergent. II. n. (Med.) Purge, physic, cathartic, scourer, purgative medicine.

Moby Thesaurus

abstergent, alleviating, alleviative, analgesic, anesthetic, anodyne, aperient, apologetic, ascetic, assuasive, atoning, balmy, balsamic, benumbing, carminative, cathartic, cleaner, cleaning, cleaning agent, cleaning solvent, cleanser, cleansing, cleansing cream, cold cream, compensational, compensatory, cream, deadening, demulcent, dentifrice, depurant, depurative, detergent, diuretic, dulling, easing, emetic, emollient, enema, expiatory, expurgatory, holystone, laxative, lenitive, lotion, lustral, lustrational, lustrative, mitigating, mitigative, mouthwash, nauseant, numbing, pain-killing, palliative, penitential, physic, piacular, propitiatory, pumice stone, purgatorial, purge, purging, purificatory, purifier, purifying, reclamatory, recompensing, redeeming, redemptive, redressing, relieving, remedial, reparative, reparatory, repentant, repenting, restitutional, restitutive, restitutory, righting, rinse, satisfactional, shampoo, soap, softening, solvent, soothing, squaring, subduing, synthetic detergent, tooth powder, toothpaste, wash