cannabis
Pluralcannabises (some meanings)
- 1A psychoactive drug made from parts of the cannabis plant that intoxicates the user and brings on mild euphoria or sedation.
Toxicology tests showed the driver had been impaired by cannabis when the crash happened.
The clinic treats patients whose cannabis use has started to interfere with work and school.
UsageCommon in health and road-safety writing, often first in compounds (cannabis use, cannabis-impaired driving); marijuana names the same drug.
- 2A tall annual plant of the genus Cannabis, especially Cannabis sativa, native to central Asia, usually with male and female flowers on separate plants, leaves divided into finger-like leaflets, and tough stem fibers.
Hemp farmers sow cannabis close together so the stalks grow tall and produce long fibers.
Botanists collected seeds of wild cannabis in the mountain valleys of central Asia, where the plant is native.
UsageWritten with a capital as the genus name (Cannabis sativa). Grown for fiber, the plant is often called hemp.
Similarhemp
Note
This is the plant that the drug and the medicine are made from, and its name came into English straight from Latin cannabis, "hemp", which Latin took from Greek kannabis. Canvas and hemp are doublets of it: the same ancient word, reaching English by other routes.
- 3A preparation of the cannabis plant, such as dried flowers, an oil or a purified extract, used as a medicine to relieve symptoms rather than to intoxicate.
When other treatments failed to ease the nerve pain in his legs, his doctor recommended trying cannabis in the form of a prescribed oil.
Some hospitals now stock pharmaceutical-grade cannabis for patients whose nausea does not respond to other drugs.
UsageOften medical cannabis, which makes clear it is a treatment.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of cannabis apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
English took cannabis from Latin cannabis (“hemp”), which Latin had in turn taken from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis). Canvas and hemp are doublets of it, words that reached English from the same source by different routes.