Definition of "anticoagulant" []

• A substance that prevents the clotting of blood. (noun)
• Acting as an anticoagulant. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Researchers in the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine have found that clopidogrel may be a safe and effective treatment for dogs that need long-term anticoagulant therapy."
• "More than 18,000 patients from 44 countries took part in the three-year randomised evaluation of long-term anticoagulant therapy trial, the largest of its kind conducted."
• "ORLANDO—The pharmaceutical industry's decades-long effort to find a kind of blood thinner called an anticoagulant that can help patients who have suffered a heart attack may finally have hit pay dirt, a major new study suggests."