Meaning & use
anti-malaria pills
Last updated
Meanings
nounpluralmedical
Tablets or capsules taken to prevent or treat malaria, a serious disease spread by mosquito bites.
Grammar: Always plural in this form; for one tablet say 'an anti-malaria pill' or 'a malaria pill'.
Patterns
- take anti-malaria pills
- be on anti-malaria pills
- anti-malaria pills for something
She started taking anti-malaria pills a week before her trip to Kenya.
Doctors recommend anti-malaria pills for anyone traveling to high-risk regions.
He forgot his anti-malaria pills and caught the disease.
nounpluralmedical
Such tablets considered as a course of preventive medicine for travelers.
Grammar: Used with 'on' to describe someone currently taking them: be on anti-malaria pills.
Patterns
- be on anti-malaria pills
- put someone on anti-malaria pills
The clinic put the whole team on anti-malaria pills before the expedition.
Are you still on anti-malaria pills, or did you finish the course?
Common combinations
- take anti-malaria pills
- You must take anti-malaria pills every day while you are in the region.
- be on anti-malaria pills
- She has been on anti-malaria pills since June.
- a course of anti-malaria pills
- The pharmacist sold him a course of anti-malaria pills.
- prescribe anti-malaria pills
- The doctor prescribed anti-malaria pills for the family.
- anti-malaria pills for travel
- This pharmacy stocks anti-malaria pills for travel to Africa and Asia.
Synonyms and how they differ
- antimalarials
- A more technical, often medical term for the same drugs; use it in scientific or clinical writing rather than everyday speech.
- malaria tablets
- A common British everyday phrase with the same meaning; 'anti-malaria pills' is the more explicit form.
Word family
- malaria noun
- the disease these pills prevent
- antimalarial adjective
- describing drugs or measures that work against malaria
- antimalarial noun
- a drug used to prevent or treat malaria
Commonly confused: anti-malaria pills or anti-malaria pill? anti-malaria pills or painkillers?
anti-malaria pills vs anti-malaria pill
The singular form refers to one tablet; the plural 'pills' is used for the medicine in general or a supply of them.
anti-malaria pills vs painkillers
Painkillers relieve pain, while anti-malaria pills prevent or treat malaria; they are not interchangeable.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
'On' is the standard preposition for currently taking a medicine: be on anti-malaria pills. 'In', 'at' and 'by' do not express taking medication.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “anti-malaria pills”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.