Standard Lemma guide

psychoactive

adj · noun · 3 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.

  • General-American: /ˌsaɪkoʊˈæktɪv/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Affecting the mind or mental processes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, pharmacology, sciences

Examples

  • LSD and DMT are psychoactive drugs.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any drug that affects the mind or mental processes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, pharmacology, sciences

Examples

  • LSD and DMT are psychoactives.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

affecting the mind or mood or other mental processes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • psychoactive drugs

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: psychotropic

Antonyms: nonpsychoactive

History

Etymology

From psycho- + active.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: въздействащ на психиката (vǎzdejstvašt na psihikata) — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Catalan: psicoactiu — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 作用於精神的 — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 作用于精神的 (zuòyòng yú jīngshén de) — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 影響心理狀態的 — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 影响心理状态的 (yǐngxiǎng xīnlǐ zhuàngtài de) — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Esperanto: psikoaktiva — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Esperanto: psikaktiva — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Finnish: psykoaktiivinen — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • French: psychoactif — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • French: psychotrope — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • German: psychoaktiv — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Italian: psicoattivo — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Kazakh: психикалық белсенді (psixikalyq belsendı) — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Polish: psychoaktywny — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Russian: психоактивный (psixoaktivnyj) — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Spanish: psicoactivo — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Swedish: psykoaktiv — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
  • Ukrainian: психоакти́вний (psyxoaktývnyj) — pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes
Real reading context

psychoactive in complete knowledge articles