Definitions

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

  • adjective Relating to or resembling anesthesia.
  • adjective Causing anesthesia.
  • adjective Insensitive.
  • noun An agent that causes loss of sensation with or without the loss of consciousness.
  • noun Something likened to this in effect.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Producing temporary loss or impairment of feeling or sensation; producing anæsthesia.
  • Of or belonging to anæsthesia; characterized by anæsthesia, or physical insensibility: as, anesthetic effects.
  • noun A substance capable of producing anæsthesia.

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

  • adjective Causing the reduction of pain sensitivity.
  • noun medicine A substance administered to reduce the perception of pain or to induce numbness. An anesthetic may or may not render the recipient unconscious, depending upon the type used.

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

  • noun a drug that causes temporary loss of bodily sensations
  • adjective characterized by insensibility
  • adjective relating to or producing insensibility

Etymologies

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

[From Greek anaisthētos, without feeling : an-, without; see a– + aisthētos, perceptible (from aisthanesthai, to feel; see anesthesia).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Greek anaisthetos insensible.

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Examples

  • A local anesthetic is used prior to the procedure, and a mild anesthetic is often mixed into the injection fluid.

    A Pinch of Sugar for Pain Laura Johannes 2010

  • Depending on the age of the child, either a local or general anesthetic is used during the eye examination.

    Retinoblastoma - Diagnosing and Treating Retinoblastoma in Children 2009

  • To perform the procedure, a local anesthetic is used to numb the skin on the abdomen, and a needle is inserted into the womb to remove some amniotic fluid.

    Giant Neck Masses (GNM), Cervical Teratoma 2010

  • The right anesthetic is tailored between you, doctors and pertinent surgical issues (such as time length of surgery).

    Surgery Concerns for Children « Happy Healthy Hip Parenting 2009

  • The dose of general anesthetic is kept to a minimum until the baby is delivered.

    Surgery Concerns for Children « Happy Healthy Hip Parenting 2009

  • The sought after substance is sodium thiopental, the short-term anesthetic that is administered to the condemned inmate before the other two drugs that will eventually provide the inmate with a comfortable transition to the hereafter are administered.

    Christopher Brauchli: Executions Should be Painless Christopher Brauchli 2010

  • A footnote in a 1968 review made note of a drug called Sernyl, a short-term anesthetic developed by Parke, Davis for field use by the military but abandoned because, when overadministered, it had produced psychiatric symptoms.

    Over the Edge Jonathan Kellerman 1987

  • A footnote in a 1968 review made note of a drug called Sernyl, a short-term anesthetic developed by Parke, Davis for field use by the military but abandoned because, when overadministered, it had produced psychiatric symptoms.

    Over the Edge Jonathan Kellerman 1987

  • A footnote in a 1968 review made note of a drug called Sernyl, a short-term anesthetic developed by Parke, Davis for field use by the military but abandoned because, when overadministered, it had produced psychiatric symptoms.

    Over the Edge Jonathan Kellerman 1987

  • Not no, she didn’t have any, but no, she does not understand the word anesthetic.

    Gringos in Paradise Barry Golson 2006

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