Meaning & use
antidote
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Meanings
nouncountablemedical
A medicine or substance that stops a poison from doing harm.
Grammar: Followed by to or for: an antidote to the venom.
Patterns
- an antidote to something
- an antidote for something
Doctors gave the hiker an antidote to the snake venom.
There is no known antidote for this poison.
The hospital keeps an antidote on hand for pesticide cases.
nouncountablefigurative
Something that helps to cure or reduce a bad feeling or problem.
Grammar: Often figurative: an antidote to boredom.
Patterns
- an antidote to something
A walk in the woods is the perfect antidote to stress.
Humor was the antidote to the long, gloomy winter.
Education is often called the antidote to prejudice.
Word forms
| plural | antidotes |
|---|
Common combinations
- an antidote to
- Music is an antidote to loneliness.
- administer an antidote
- The nurse administered an antidote quickly.
- the perfect antidote
- Sunshine was the perfect antidote after weeks of rain.
- snake antidote
- They carried a snake antidote on the trek.
- find an antidote
- Scientists struggled to find an antidote.
Synonyms and how they differ
- remedy
- Remedy refers to any cure, while antidote is aimed specifically at a poison or harmful influence.
- cure
- A cure ends an illness, whereas an antidote counters a poison's effect.
- countermeasure
- Countermeasure is more formal and military, covering any action against a threat.
- corrective
- Corrective suggests fixing an error, rather than neutralizing something harmful.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: antidote or anecdote?
antidote vs anecdote
An anecdote is a short, amusing story, and sounds close to antidote but has nothing to do with poison.
Practice
After a long week of meetings, a quiet weekend was the perfect ___ to stress.
Choose one answer.
An antidote to stress is something that counters it. Anecdote is a short story and is spelled similarly but does not fit the sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “antidote”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.