Doped

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Pronunciation: /dəʊpt/

Definitions

1. Treated with substances to enhance performance, usually in sports ; introduced impurities into a material to change its properties, especially in semiconductors
2. Administered a stimulant or drug to improve ability or output ; deliberately added foreign elements to a material to affect its behavior or characteristics
3. Given a chemical treatment that improves or alters function, often by adding drugs ; incorporated specific impurities to modify the physical or electrical traits of a substance

Etymology: The past tense "doped" comes from the verb "dope," which began as a Dutch kitchen word. "Doop" was a thick dipping sauce, from "dopen," meaning "to dip," a word with the same Germanic roots as English "dip." The drug sense grew out of "doop" as a name for viscous opium juice, the narcotic that the ancient Greeks favoured, so a substance you could dip something into became a substance you could be drugged with. The verb "to dope," meaning to give a drug to someone or something, follows from that noun. Its more specific use in sport, where an athlete or racehorse is secretly given a stimulant to improve performance, is probably linked to the older slang that suggested a horse had been doped before a race. The word for a stupid person may also come from the drug sense, from the stupor of those intoxicated on opium.

Synonyms: drugged, intoxicated, influenced, altered, enhanced

Antonyms: sober, clear-headed, unaffected, natural, untainted