Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a medicine or other remedy for counteracting the effects of poison, disease, etc.
- something that prevents or counteracts injurious or unwanted effects: Good jobs are the best antidote to teenage crime.
verb (used with object), an·ti·dot·ed, an·ti·dot·ing.
- to counteract with an antidote: Medication was given to antidote the poison the child had swallowed.
noun
- med a drug or agent that counteracts or neutralizes the effects of a poison
- anything that counteracts or relieves a harmful or unwanted condition; remedy
“remedy counteracting poison,” 1510s (earlier in English as a Latin word), from Middle French antidot and directly from Latin antidotum “a remedy against poison,” from Greek antidoton “given as a remedy,” literally “given against,” verbal adjective of antididonai “give in return,” from anti- “against” + didonai “to give” (see date (n.1)). Cf. Middle English antidotarie “treatise on drugs or medicines” (c.1400).
n.
- An agent used to neutralize or counteract the effects of a poison.
- A substance that counteracts the effects of a poison.