Standard Lemma guide

methadone

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmɛθ.əd.əʊn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈmɛθ.əˌdoʊn/
  • CMU ARPABET: M EH1 TH AH0 D OW2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A powerful synthetic analgesic drug which is similar to morphine in its effects but less sedative and is used as a substitute drug in the treatment of morphine and heroin addiction.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pharmacology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: amidone

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

synthetic narcotic drug similar to morphine but less habit-forming; used in narcotic detoxification and maintenance of heroin addiction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: methadone hydrochloride, methadon, dolophine hydrochloride, fixer, synthetic heroin

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: narcotic

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Hellenic *dwi- Ancient Greek δῐ- (dĭ-)bor. Latin di-bor. English di- Proto-Indo-European *médhu Proto-Hellenic *méthu Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu) Proto-Indo-European *swel-der.? Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der. German -yl German Methylbor. English methyl English dimethyl Egyptian jmnbor. Ancient Greek Ᾰ̓́μμων (Ắmmōn)bor. Latin Ammōn Latin ammoniacusder. English ammonia Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. Old French -inbor. Middle English -in English -ine English amine Ancient Greek -ο- (-o-)der. Latin -o-bor. English -o- English amino- English amino English (di)meth(yl)a(mino) ▲ English di- Proto-Indo-European *bheh2-der. Proto-Hellenic *pháňňō Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō)der. French phéno- ▲ Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der. French -yle French phénylebor. English phenyl English d(iphenyl) English (heptan)one English methadone From (di)meth(yl)a(mino) + d(iphenyl) + (heptan)one.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Cantonese: 美沙酮 (mei5 saa1 tung4) — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Chinese Mandarin: 美沙酮 (měishātóng) — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Chinese Mandarin: 美沙冬 (měishādōng) — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Czech: metadon — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Esperanto: metadono — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Finnish: metadoni — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • French: méthadone — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • German: Methadon — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Ido: metadono — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Kazakh: метадон (metadon) — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Macedonian: метадон (metadon) — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Polish: metadon — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Spanish: metadona — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Swedish: metadon — synthetic opioid analgesic
  • Turkish: metadon — synthetic opioid analgesic