Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A synthetic drug analog of pyrophosphate that acts primarily on bone to inhibit its resorption and is used to treat and prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun organic chemistry Any salt or ester of alendronic acid
  • noun medicine The sodium salt of alendronic acid used to treat osteoporosis

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a tablet (trade name Fosamax) prescribed to prevent or treat osteoporosis in women after menopause

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably a(mino) + (buty)l(id)en(e), a bivalent hydrocarbon radical (butyl + –id(e) + –ene) + (hy)dr(oxy) + (phosph)onate, chemical compound name (phosphon(ium) + –ate).]

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