soporific - Definitions from Dictionary.com

7 results for: soporific

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

sop·o·rif·ic

Audio Help [sop-uh-rif-ik, soh-puh-] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	causing or tending to cause sleep.

2.	pertaining to or characterized by sleep or sleepiness; sleepy; drowsy.

–noun

3.	something that causes sleep, as a medicine or drug.

[Origin: 1655–65; < L sopor sopor + -i- + -fic; cf. F soporifique

]

—Related forms

sop·o·rif·i·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
soporific

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

sop·o·rif·ic Audio Help (sŏp'ə-rĭf'ĭk, sō'pə-) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Inducing or tending to induce sleep.
Drowsy.

n. A drug or other substance that induces sleep; a hypnotic.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
soporific

1690, from Fr. soporifique (1687), formed in Fr. from L. sopor (gen. soporis) "deep sleep," from a causative form of the PIE base *swep- "to sleep" (see somnolence).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

soporific
adjective
1.	sleep inducing
2.	inducing mental lethargy; "a narcotic speech" [syn: narcotic]
noun
1.	a drug that induces sleep

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Soporific

Som"no*lent\, a. [F. somnolent, L. somnolentus, from somnus sleep, akin to Gr. ?, Skr. svapna sleep, dream, svap to sleep, Icel. sofa, AS. swefn sleep. Cf. Hypnotic, Somnambulism, Soporific.] Sleepy; drowsy; inclined to sleep. -- Som"no*lent*ly, adv.

He had no eye for such phenomens, because he had a somnolent want of interest in them. --De Quincey.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Soporific

Sop`o*rif"ic\ (?; 277), a. [L. sopor a heavy sleep (akin to somnus sleep) + facere to make. See Somnolent, Fact.] Causing sleep; tending to cause sleep; soporiferous; as, the soporific virtues of opium.

Syn: Somniferous; narcotic; opiate; anodyne.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

soporific

soporific was Word of the Day on September 26, 2000.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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