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Definition of "carminative" [car•min•ative•a•tive]

  • Inducing the expulsion of gas from the stomach and intestines. (adjective)
  • A drug or agent that induces the expulsion of gas from the stomach or intestines. (noun)

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.

Use "carminative" in a sentence
  • "In this connection it is interesting to note that, according to one authority, the word carminative, a remedy which relieves pain "like a charm," is derived from the Latin _carminare_, to use incantations."
  • "Everything was in the word carminative -- a detailed, exact foreground, an immense, indefinite hinterland of suggestion."
  • "From boyhood the romantic, poetically inclined hero, Denis Stone, found the word carminative particularly evocative."