opium

CEFRC1

/ˈoʊ.pi.əm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A strong drug made from a type of poppy.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Anything that numbs or stupefies.

Examples

  • Neither wine, nor opium, nor tobacco are necessary for people’s lives.

  • Religion is the opium of the people.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
3
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈəʊ.pi.əm/
  • /ˈoʊp.jəm/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning
  1. A yellow-brown, addictive narcotic drug obtained from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine.

More examples

In context
  • Opium is largely used by the Chinese as a sexual provocation, both by men and women.

  • From hence we firſt ſailed to Achin, in the iſland of Sumatra, and then to Siam, where we bartered our wares for ſome arrack and opium, the laſt of which bore a great price among the Chineſe:[…]

  • Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, […] It is the opium of the people.

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

In the past, doctors often gave patients blank to help them sleep after serious injuries.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from Latin opium and Ancient Greek ὄπιον (ópion), from ὀπός (opós, “juice of a plant”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷós (“juice, resin”).