From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnarcoticnar‧cot‧ic1 /nɑːˈkɒtɪk $ nɑːrˈkɑː-/ noun [countable] 1 → narcotics2 MDa type of drug which makes you sleep and reduces pain
Examples from the Corpus
narcotic• In the past month there had been 26 cases of battery, 24 narcotics cases, 10 thefts and five assaults.• In another case this spring, a Chicago gangster was convicted after moving a narcotics ring to Rochester, Minn.• Federal legislation banning narcotics had already been enacted three years earlier and the prohibition of alcohol was only two years away.• He died from an overdose of narcotics.• I had learned that kissing was a powerful narcotic.• By 2015, bitter enmities played themselves out in gang warfare, narcotics traffic, and addiction.narcoticnarcotic2 adjective 1 [only before noun] especially American EnglishMDD relating to illegal drugs narcotic addiction2 MDa narcotic drug takes away pain or makes you sleepExamples from the Corpus
narcotic• She was prescribed antibiotics and analgesics including pethidine, which is a narcotic drug, and given oxygen.• Anti-alcohol campaigners deliberately seek to confuse alcohol with narcotic drugs.• How ludicrous it was, she thought, to have to swallow alcohol simply because of its temporarily narcotic effect.• They were dizzied by the sheer narcotic rush of Hong Kong.• He tried to cultivate a reputation for dangerous magical power by engaging in narcotic shamanistic seances.• James Harper, defending, said Colling believed his drinks had been spiked with a narcotic substance which caused his violent behaviour.Origin narcotic1 (1300-1400) French narcotique, from Greek narkotikos, from narkoun “to make numb”, from narke “being without feeling” 