purgative

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“This is a purgative we need to take,” said Mauricio Alonso, who rents out rooms in his apartment in Havana.

From Reuters

Castor oil seeds, a purgative, were found in ancient Egyptian tombs.

From Washington Post

Hellebore was prescribed in ancient Greece and the Middle Ages alike for its purgative effects, to rid the body of excess “black bile,” the imagined cause of melancholy.

From New York Times

The areca nut, or betel nut — usually used to get rid of hookworms, tapeworms and other intestinal parasites — are known as “purgative herbs that drain downward,” according to the TCM site Me and Qi.

From Washington Post

Still others concentrate discomfort into a violent but circumscribed period of time, like being boiled in a caldron, as a kind of psychological purgative.

From New York Times