laudanum

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Laudanum' is a historical name for a liquid medicine made from opium and alcohol. 'Opium' is broader: it names the drug from the poppy and does not always mean this bottled mixture. 'Morphine' is a modern medical drug taken from opium, so it sounds more clinical and current. 'Sedative' describes what a drug does when it calms you or makes you sleepy, but it does not name one specific substance. 'Painkiller' is the everyday broad word and can include many medicines unrelated to opium. Compare: 'The doctor poured a little laudanum into the cup,' but 'The hospital gave her morphine after surgery.'

Common collocations

Etymology

English borrowed 'laudanum' from medical Latin. The word came to refer to an opium tincture sold as a bottled liquid remedy, which matches its usual modern sense in historical writing and fiction.