opioid
nounUK /ˈəʊpiɔɪd/
Etymology Attested 1963; from opium + -oid, to distinguish from opiate.
› A substance that has effects similar to opium:
1
Medicine, Physiology, Sciences Any of the natural substances, such as an endorphin, released in the body in response to pain; an endogenous opioid.
- Mechoulam concluded that our bodies must produce their own cannabinoids — endogenous molecules that, like the native opioids and nicotinelike molecules our bodies also make, engage the cannabinoid receptors throughout the human body.2019 May 14, Moises Velasquez-Manoff, “Can CBD Really Do All That?”, in The New York Times Magazine:
2
Medicine, Pharmacology, Sciences Any of a group of synthetic compounds that exhibit similarities to the opium alkaloids that occur in nature.
- The number of young children in the US who have died from opioid overdoses has increased significantly, according to a new study on accidental poisonings of children 5 and younger.2023 March 8, Jen Christensen, “Young children are increasingly victims of opioid epidemic, study finds”, in CNN:
- Derived terms
- copioid, nonopioid, opioidergic, opioidlike