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Definition
a substance used to clean wounds because it prevents infection by killing harmful micro-organisms such as bacteriaor more rarely when used as an adjective: describing something as thoroughly clean and free of micro-organisms
Much more rarely, "antiseptic" is used to indicate something that is too planned — lacking in organic or natural character.
- I washed the wound and then used alcohol as an antiseptic.
antiseptic = a substance used to clean wounds because it prevents infection by killing harmful micro-organisms such as bacteria
- The nurse always wipes the skin with an antiseptic swab before administering a shot.
- The air smells of something sharp and antiseptic.Suzanne Collins -- The Hunger Games
- Gently rinsing away the blood, putting on an antiseptic, and bandaging them beneath the cuffs.Suzanne Collins -- Mockingjay
- We provide antiseptics and cotton and a place for the children to cry and nurse their wounds.Alice Walker -- The Color Purple
- It's more than the reinforced elevator, or the claustrophobia of being so far underground, or the caustic smell of antiseptic.Suzanne Collins -- Mockingjay
- The stink of unwashed bodies, stale urine, and infection breaks through the cloud of antiseptic.Suzanne Collins -- Mockingjay
- He was sent to live his last days in the antiseptic confinement of a sanatorium, where his family sat with him through his final hours.Laura Hillenbrand -- Seabiscuit
- Now colors are gentler and fewer; smells are antiseptic.Maxine Hong Kingston -- The Woman Warrior
- The smells of antiseptic and astringent seemed to energize him, and the feelings generated by human trauma and fear seemed to motivate him.Sampon Davis, et. al. -- We Beat the Street
- A first-aid kit with bandages and tubes of antiseptic paste and small scissors.Gary Paulsen -- Hatchet
- Boxes of latex gloves, surgical masks, antiseptic pads, rolls of tape.Rick Yancey -- The 5th Wave
- Hortensia and Josefina scrubbed the little cabin until it was almost antiseptic.Pam Munoz Ryan -- Esperanza Rising
- It smelled of harsh antiseptic; it smelled too clean and hard and metallic.Ray Bradbury -- The Pedestrian
- From all her talk of moving, I'd imagined a place full of boxes, something impersonal and antiseptic.Gayle Forman -- Where She Went
- I swiped two rolls of bandages from the shelf, a bottle of peroxide to clean the wound, and pocketed a tube of antiseptic ointment.Kenneth Oppel -- Airborn
- The antiseptic odor fills the room, and then it comes off his breath.Abraham Verghese -- Cutting for Stone
- He was the most typical figure of Gramarye, his tar being the antiseptic of his sheep.T. H. White -- The Once and Future King
- Even under the smells of antiseptics and alcohol, she could smell the grassy smell of his skin.Alice Sebold -- The Lovely Bones
- I look away as Eric wipes my neck with an antiseptic wipe and eases the needle into my skin.Veronica Roth -- Divergent
antiseptic = a substance used to clean wounds because it prevents infection by killing harmful micro-organisms such as bacteria
antiseptic = a chemical that kills micro-organisms
antiseptic = a substance used to clean wounds because it prevents infection by killing harmful micro-organisms such as bacteria
antiseptics = chemicals used to clean wounds because they kill germs