How to Use opiate in a Sentence

opiate

1 of 2 noun
  • Many see television as an opiate of the masses.
  • The main culprit has been the synthetic opiate fentanyl for the past few years.
    — Terry Demio, Cincinnati.com, 17 July 2019
  • Two things set Oxycontin apart from the opiates that came before.
    — Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone, 1 July 2023
  • Former opiate users often have resistance to some of the drugs.
    — Lisa M. Krieger, Star Tribune, 1 Oct. 2020
  • Unable to lose himself in his work, the narrator turns to the true opiate of the masses.
    — Rumaan Alam, The New Republic, 9 Sep. 2020
  • That was my first experience with opiates.
    — Ilana Kaplan, PEOPLE, 28 Oct. 2025
  • And my boyfriend had collapsed back into his opiate addiction.
    — Corey Seymour, Vogue, 16 Apr. 2019
  • It should be treated as an opiate, such as codeine, and be made available only by prescription.
    — WSJ, 31 Aug. 2021
  • The drug, which can be administered as a nasal spray, works by blocking the effects of opiates on the brain.
    — Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 2 Sep. 2023
  • And eyeballs and data are the opiate of advertisers big and small.
    — John D. Stoll, WSJ, 21 Aug. 2020
  • The suspect was found to be driving under the influence of opiates.
    — Rachel Spacek, The Mercury News, 27 June 2019
  • Cara was addicted to opiates and wrote bad checks against her stepfather’s account.
    — Josh Kovner, courant.com, 14 Oct. 2019
  • Set against the national opiate epidemic, the amount of drugs used by the show’s youngsters is eye-popping.
    — New York Times, 24 June 2019
  • The cause of death was acute opiate and cocaine intoxication.
    — Rolfe Winkler, WSJ, 19 Aug. 2022
  • Rieman struggled with alcohol addiction and opiate abuse, and had been using that night to take the edge off.
    — Rose Wagner, baltimoresun.com, 13 Aug. 2021
  • Like any opiate, fentanyl use can increase the risk of dependency and lead to abuse and addiction.
    — Tim Darnell, ajc, 23 Feb. 2021
  • Most dogs show signs within 15 minutes of exposure to opiates, says the agency.
    — Zoe Sottile, CNN, 22 Apr. 2023
  • Fentanyl, a deadly opiate, was the drug that almost killed Rue last season when Mouse forced her to take it.
    — Josh St. Clair, Men's Health, 31 Jan. 2022
  • In our frightening future, the metaverse, not religion, might serve as the opiate of the masses.
    — John Horgan, Scientific American, 27 Oct. 2021
  • Someone had just overdosed and a man was yelling into a crowd for the medication used to reverse an opiate overdose.
    — Danny McDonald, BostonGlobe.com, 11 May 2022
  • Are laughter and lightness merely opiates, or tools of the revolution, or both, or neither?
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Part of that catastrophe came from another synthetic opiate that was new to the streets, carfentanil.
    — Terry Demio, USA TODAY, 15 Dec. 2019
  • To the extent that rainbow fentanyl disguises the synthetic opiate as something else, that's bad news.
    — Peter Weber, The Week, 15 Oct. 2022
  • One state’s level is so low, an Air Force pilot can fly with up to 400 times more opiates in their system.
    — Lucas Waldron, ProPublica, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Pain due to nerve damage has other options besides ibuprofen and opiates, and the earlier he gets started, the better.
    — Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 8 Apr. 2023
  • He was found to be under the influence of opiates and in possession of Xanax without proof of prescription.
    — Jake Richardson, The Mercury News, 29 Aug. 2019
  • But Clarke is worried about patients losing out on things like steroid injections, which help manage pain without opiates or surgery.
    — Jillian Taylor, StateImpact, 16 Jan. 2026
  • The pill's special coating allowed for the slow release of large doses of oxycodone, a powerful opiate that is twice as strong as morphine.
    — CBS News, 11 Apr. 2021
  • The findings also say that Deputy 1 was not carrying naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opiate overdose.
    — Kelly Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Yet while opiates have risks, there are no studies comparing them to marijuana, and untested claims in medicine don’t get the benefit of the doubt.
    — Peter B. Bach, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2019

opiate

2 of 2 adjective
  • Hydrocodone is an opiate used in drugs like Vicodin.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2026
  • The same opiate dosage could knock out a first-time user while simply staving off an addict’s cravings.
    — Gabe Allen, Discover Magazine, 30 Oct. 2021
  • It’s even been used as self-treatment for those going through opiate withdrawal.
    — Dallas News, 30 Jan. 2023
  • Her pupils were constricted, which is a sign of opiate use, according to the statement.
    — Mary Grace Keller, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 18 Nov. 2019
  • Keyes used the patches and a slue of other opiate prescriptions to soothe the pain from the chemotherapy.
    — Asha C. Gilbert, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2021
  • Opioid and opiate drugs bind to and activate opioid receptors in your brain, gut, and spinal cord.
    — Tessie Castillo, SELF, 6 Mar. 2018
  • But L’Orvietan’s non-opiate ingredients might not have been just filler.
    — Elizabeth Heath, Discover Magazine, 15 Feb. 2023
  • When Marie was at Lexington in the 40s, opiate users were mostly white men.
    — Carol Sutton Lewis, Scientific American, 6 Apr. 2023
  • In the absence of nutrition and hydration, the body produces opiate-like substances that blunt hunger and thirst.
    — Jonel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News, 21 Aug. 2017
  • Kratom has also been helpful for people looking for a natural way to deal with opiate withdrawal.
    — Dallas News, 4 Oct. 2022
  • There's this book, Dreamland, about the opiate crisis in America.
    — Dave Holmes, Esquire, 27 Mar. 2017
  • The claim is that this pharmacist received large numbers of heavy opiate prescriptions written by the same doctor.
    — Michael I. Krauss, Forbes, 10 June 2021
  • Iraq, the opiate epidemic, a brooding sense of financial crisis.
    — K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2021
  • The baby girl never showed signs of opiate withdrawal, and her drug tests came back negative, according to the complaint.
    — Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Combined with other disputes over human rights, trade and opiate production, the list of problem areas is daunting.
    — Matthew Lee, Fortune, 20 June 2023
  • Schlozman — who also suggested the film echoes the current desolation of the opiate crisis — agrees.
    — Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 28 Dec. 2022
  • The current proposal allows for those who would get an opiate prescription from a physician for chronic pain to take advantage of the program.
    — Aarón Torres, Dallas News, 12 Apr. 2023
  • The tavern is called Milk of the Poppy, a nod to the opiate tonic in Thrones, yet it’s not officially based on the show.
    — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 15 Jan. 2026
  • More problematic is that some clinics, like Zong’s, offer a mix of services — treatment for both opiate addiction and pain.
    — Brian Rinker, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2018
  • Advocates say that the record highs in overdose deaths highlight the importance of adopting new strategies to combat the opiate epidemic.
    — Byeli Cahan, ABC News, 12 Apr. 2022
  • That Nearly Killed Me, has been in recovery for an opiate addiction for 17 years.
    — Ginny Graves, Health.com, 20 Aug. 2020
  • And naltrexone suppresses the opioid system, which can reduce cravings in both alcoholics and opiate users.
    — Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 19 June 2023
  • Murdaugh had testified in the trial that bad land deals and an addiction to opiate pills helped put the family in desperate financial shape.
    — Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2023
  • Tennessee logs more opiate prescriptions per capita than any state in the nation except West Virginia.
    — Natasha Vaughn, USA TODAY, 19 Sep. 2017
  • Paramedics were treating the unconscious woman, who was revived after two doses of Narcan, used for opiate overdoses.
    — cleveland, 29 Aug. 2020
  • Murdaugh said bad land deals and an addiction to opiate pills spurred a decade-long cycle of borrowing and spending that put the family in desperate financial shape.
    — Anumita Kaur, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2023
  • The latest settlement is part of a flurry of litigation surrounding the nation's opiate crisis.
    — Amelia Pak-Harvey, The Indianapolis Star, 7 Apr. 2022
  • The 3-year-old child’s father arrived to take him, but was found to have an active warrant from Brook Park and also exhibited signs of opiate abuse.
    — cleveland, 29 Aug. 2020
  • Some of these babies have neonatal opiate withdrawal syndrome (NOWS).
    — Ritika Samant, al, 24 Apr. 2023
  • The epidemic Sessions refers to involves deadly opiate drugs, not marijuana, Chris writes.
    — Paige Winfield Cunningham, Washington Post, 14 June 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'opiate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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