Overdose

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌdəʊs/

Definitions

1. An excessive amount of a substance, especially a drug, taken into the body in a way that produces a toxic or harmful effect
2. An amount of a toxic substance, drug, or poison absorbed by the body that exceeds safe limits and results in severe damage or death
3. The act of taking a quantity of a drug or chemical that greatly surpasses what is safe, leading to harmful consequences

Etymology: "Overdose" is one of those words whose history is simply its construction: it is built from "over-", meaning excessively or beyond a proper amount, attached to "dose", a word that came into English from French and ultimately from Greek "dosis", meaning a giving or portion. Put together, the sense is straightforward: more than the prescribed portion of something. Because both parts were already established English elements, the compound could be formed without any special coinage or famous inventor. The noun and the verb share the same form, so a single entry covers both the act of taking too much and the excessive quantity itself.

Synonyms: excess, intoxication, surfeit, overconsumption, surplus

Antonyms: underdose, deficiency, shortage, insufficiency, lack