Meaning & use
prescription drug
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A medicine that you can only buy if a doctor has written an official order for it.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a prescription drug' or 'prescription drugs'; it is often used in the plural when talking about this whole group.
Patterns
- be on prescription drugs
- take a prescription drug
- a prescription drug for something
You can't buy this as a prescription drug in most countries; it's sold over the counter.
She takes several prescription drugs for her heart condition.
The report compared spending on prescription drugs with spending on hospital care.
nounplural
Such medicines considered as a group, especially when discussing cost, abuse, or regulation.
Grammar: Used in the plural with a general meaning: no article, as in 'addicted to prescription drugs'.
Patterns
- abuse of prescription drugs
- prescription drugs are expensive
Doctors are worried about the misuse of prescription drugs among teenagers.
Insurance often covers prescription drugs but not always at the full price.
Word forms
| plural | prescription drugs |
|---|
Common combinations
- prescription drug abuse
- The clinic runs a program to treat prescription drug abuse.
- prescription drug costs
- Prescription drug costs have risen sharply this year.
- a prescription drug for pain
- He was given a prescription drug for pain after the operation.
- be on prescription drugs
- She has been on prescription drugs since her surgery.
- over-the-counter vs prescription drugs
- Some medicines exist both as over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
Synonyms and how they differ
- prescription medicine
- Common in British English and slightly softer in tone; it means the same thing.
- medication
- A wider word that can include pills, creams, or liquids, whether prescribed or not.
Opposites
Word family
- prescribe verb
- To officially order a medicine or treatment for a patient.
- prescription noun
- The written order from a doctor, or the medicine itself.
Commonly confused: prescription drug or description?
prescription drug vs description
A 'prescription' is a doctor's order for medicine; a 'description' is a spoken or written account of what something is like.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'prescription drug' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A prescription drug is medicine a doctor orders for you, so 'the doctor gave me' fits. Option 1 fails because such drugs cannot simply be bought in a supermarket, and options 2 and 3 confuse it with 'prescription' as a written note or with 'description'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prescription drug”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.