phar·ma·ceu·ti·cal
ˌfär-mə-ˈsü-ti-kəl 
: of, relating to, or engaged in pharmacy or the manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals
a pharmaceutical company
: a medicinal drug
Examples of pharmaceutical in a Sentence
Adjective
lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry
Noun
some pharmaceuticals can be quite risky unless taken correctly
Recent Examples on the Web
Connor Greene, Time, 1 Jan. 2026
Today, the clinical trial shots are manufactured in WuXi, China, where a majority of other pharmaceutical products are manufactured, Stein explained.
—Noelle Harff, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025
Noelle Harff, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025
But there are applications in finance, defense, transport, energy, and pharmaceuticals – for anyone who needs to train machine learning models.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pharmaceutical
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Adjective
The Administration also scaled back mRNA vaccine projects aimed at advancing the development of countermeasures for public health emergencies, halting 22 projects worth nearly $500 million that involved contracts with major pharmaceutical companies such as Moderna and Pfizer.
—Connor Greene, Time, 1 Jan. 2026
Today, the clinical trial shots are manufactured in WuXi, China, where a majority of other pharmaceutical products are manufactured, Stein explained.
—Noelle Harff, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025
Noun
This is where Cidara, a small San Diego pharmaceutical company, created what the scientific community has talked about for decades — a kind of universal flu shot that fights all forms of influenza.
—Noelle Harff, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025
But there are applications in finance, defense, transport, energy, and pharmaceuticals – for anyone who needs to train machine learning models.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pharmaceutical
Cite this Entry
“Pharmaceutical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pharmaceutical. Accessed 3 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
pharmaceutical
1 of 2 adjective
phar·ma·ceu·ti·cal
ˌfär-mə-ˈsüt-i-kəl
: of, relating to, or involved in pharmacy or the manufacture and sale of medicinal drugs
a pharmaceutical company
pharmaceutical
2 of 2 noun
: a drug or preparation used in medicine
Medical Definition
pharmaceutical
1 of 2 adjective
phar·ma·ceu·ti·cal
ˌfär-mə-ˈsüt-i-kəl
variants
also pharmaceutic
: of, relating to, or engaged in pharmacy or the manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals
a pharmaceutical company
pharmaceutical
2 of 2 noun
variants
also pharmaceutic
: a medicinal drug
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