Meaning & use
medicine
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A substance, often in pill or liquid form, that you take to treat an illness or relieve pain.
Grammar: Can be countable when referring to a specific type (e.g., 'a medicine for headaches') or uncountable when talking about the concept (e.g., 'take your medicine').
Patterns
- take medicine
- a medicine for something
- prescribe medicine
The doctor told her to take the medicine twice a day.
This medicine should help with your cough.
He forgot to pack his medicines for the trip.
noununcountable
The science or practice of diagnosing, treating, and preventing illness.
Grammar: Uncountable when referring to the field of study or profession.
Patterns
- study medicine
- practice medicine
- a degree in medicine
She decided to study medicine after volunteering at a hospital.
He has been practicing medicine for over twenty years.
Advances in medicine have greatly improved life expectancy.
Word forms
| plural | medicines |
|---|
Common combinations
- take medicine
- Remember to take your medicine after breakfast.
- prescription medicine
- You need a doctor's note for prescription medicine.
- study medicine
- She wants to study medicine at university.
- medicine cabinet
- The aspirin is in the medicine cabinet.
- modern medicine
- Modern medicine has made many diseases treatable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- medication
- Medication is a more formal word for a specific drug prescribed by a doctor; medicine is the general term.
- drug
- Drug can mean a medicine, but it also often refers to illegal substances, so it can be ambiguous.
- remedy
- Remedy often suggests a traditional or home treatment, while medicine can be any scientifically approved substance.
Word family
- medical adjective
- Relating to the treatment of illness.
- medication noun
- A drug used to treat an illness.
- medicinal adjective
- Having healing properties.
Commonly confused: medicine or meditation? medicine or medics?
medicine vs meditation
Meditation is a practice of focused thinking or relaxation; medicine is a substance or field of study.
medicine vs medics
Medics are medical personnel, especially in the military; medicine is the substance or science.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
When talking about a general treatment, 'medicine' is uncountable and used without an article: 'takes medicine'. The other options are either unnatural or imply a specific medicine not previously mentioned.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “medicine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.