Noun an irradicable sense of self-righteousness seems to be the narcotic that inures these religious fanatics from any realization of the harm they have done Adjective some therapists believe that certain scents can have a narcotic effect on people the lecturer droned on in a narcotic monotone that eventually had the entire class struggling to stay awake

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

X-Men United, with an incident where sources say Singer allegedly defied producer Tom DeSanto to continue shooting while under the influence of a narcotic. Tyler Aquilina, EW.com, "X-Men cast allegedly threatened to quit en masse due to Bryan Singer's on-set behavior," 31 July 2020

The nation's largest police force is now implementing their plan to have administrative and narcotics officers out in patrol cars to fill the void. NBC News, "6,100 NYPD officers call out sick," 18 Apr. 2020

Among its priorities: a daily interruption of narcotics and sedatives plus a decrease of ventilator pressure to test whether patients can wake up, breathe, and tolerate the ventilator without drugs. Kelly Servick, Science | AAAS, "For survivors of severe COVID-19, beating the virus is just the beginning," 8 Apr. 2020

Several police departments also recorded significant drops in drug, narcotics and alcohol crimes — some of the most common ways people land in jail in America, according to FBI data. Kenny Jacoby, USA TODAY, "Crime rates plummet amid the coronavirus pandemic, but not everyone is safer in their home," 5 Apr. 2020

Honduras has been dogged by a longstanding crime problem, according to the State Department, including violent gang activity, narcotics and human trafficking. Nancy A. Youssef, WSJ, "U.S. Military Raid Freed Woman Held in Honduras," 23 Mar. 2020

Delgado appears to have prosecuted narcotics and firearms cases, a search of the office’s website shows. Washington Post, "National Digest: Columbia Gas pleads guilty in fatal explosion in Massachusetts," 9 Mar. 2020

While Bruno will leave behind a legacy, his fellow K-9 comrades, Justin and Diesel, will follow in his pawsteps by detecting narcotics and explosives in Oro Valley, just outside Tuscon. Alaa Elassar, CNN, "A police K-9 who helped seize nearly $1 million in narcotics retires in a heartwarming video," 8 Feb. 2020

Police searched Santos's phone and found evidence showing sales of narcotics through text messages. Alyssa Stoney, azcentral, "Man arrested on suspicion of shooting man in Glendale, fleeing for 12 days," 11 May 2020

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

Tests on a sample of vials reveal a concentration of painkilling narcotic as low as 0.1 percent. Edmund H. Mahony, courant.com, "Opiate-addicted pharmacist sentenced to prison after relatives describe his theft of pain medication from terminally ill cancer patients," 18 Aug. 2020

Federal border agents in San Diego thwarted three narcotic smuggling trips — one on land, two in the water — over the weekend, seizing about 630 pounds of methamphetamine and nearly a half-ton of marijuana. Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, "In three busts, federal agents seize 530 pounds meth, 940 pounds marijuana," 11 Aug. 2020

As calming as the clear waters, Fiji’s national—and mildly narcotic—tipple, kava, is another memorable part of any trip. Tyler Zielinksi, Condé Nast Traveler, "Most Travelers Are Visiting Fiji for Beaches—And Missing Out on the Rum," 2 July 2020

Billions of narcotic pills were shipped to parts of the U.S. where people had few opportunities, but plenty of pain. Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, "The Coming Era of Millennial Despair," 11 June 2020

Any long-term impacts of the narcotic unit shutdown on the Tenderloin remain to be seen, but everyone agrees hitting the pause button on narcotics enforcement had pushed the effort to clean up the neighborhood back to the forefront. Phil Matier, SFChronicle.com, "As if SF’s Tenderloin didn’t have enough problems, pulling out narcotics cops didn’t help," 24 May 2020

On Monday, government authorities in Myanmar announced Asia’s largest ever drug bust, seizing nearly 200 million methamphetamine tablets and thousands of liters of derivative of the dangerous narcotic fentanyl. Grady Mcgregor, Fortune, "China’s Xi Jinping tightens his grip," 22 May 2020

During three of those years, Ramírez allegedly prescribed the man 600 tablets of the sedative Ambien, 940 pills of the narcotic Norco and 660 phentermine tablets. Matthias Gafni, San Francisco Chronicle, "He treats Oakland's vulnerable. Now, his future is on the line," 21 May 2020

The company admitted that it had illegally promoted misleading claims that its product was not as addictive and had less potential to be abused than rival narcotic pain medications. Gerald Posner, Wired, "The Mom Who Took on Purdue Pharma for Its OxyContin Marketing," 23 Mar. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'narcotic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.