# as of or pertaining to opiates??

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-of-or-pertaining-to-opiates/138836>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 26, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-of-or-pertaining-to-opiates/138836 "2002-11-26T04:35:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kgriffey79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@kgriffey79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kgriffey79)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-of-or-pertaining-to-opiates/138836/1 "2002-11-26T04:35:21Z")

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Is opiatic a word? What the adjective that I am looking for? I looked it up on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and couldn’t find anything close for opiate, opium or opiod. Any help? Thanks!

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-of-or-pertaining-to-opiates/138836/2 "2002-11-26T05:29:42Z")

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Opiate _is_ the word–the adjective meaning “of or pertaining to opium.”

Opiate has also become a noun to refer to the class of opium derived substances, but the adjective remains opiate, as well.

There is a word opioid, but has the specific meanings (according to Merriam-Webster

> [@](#):
>
> 1 : possessing some properties characteristic of opiate narcotics but not derived from opium  
> 2 : of, involving, or induced by an opioid substance or an opioid peptide