Standard Lemma guide

thalidomide

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.

  • /θəˈlɪdəˌmaɪd/
  • CMU ARPABET: TH AH0 L IH1 D AH0 M AY2 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A drug sold during the late 1950s and early 1960s as a sleeping aid, and to pregnant women as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness and other symptoms, but withdrawn as causing severe birth defects, such as phocomelia; currently used to treat leprosy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pharmacology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a sedative and hypnotic drug; withdrawn from sale after discovered to cause severe birth defects because it inhibits angiogenesis

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sedative-hypnotic, sedative-hypnotic drug, teratogen

History

Etymology

From (ph)thal(ic acid) + (im)ido + (i)mide.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 反應停 /反应停 — drug
  • Esperanto: talidomido — drug
  • Finnish: talidomidi — drug
  • French: thalidomide — drug
  • German: Thalidomid — drug
  • German: Contergan — drug
  • Greek: θαλιδομίδη (thalidomídi) — drug
  • Portuguese: talidomida — drug
  • Russian: талидоми́д (talidomíd) — drug