chloramphenicol

noun

chlor·​am·​phen·​i·​col ˌklȯr-ˌam-ˈfe-ni-ˌkȯl 

-ˌkōl

: a broad-spectrum antibiotic C₁₁H₁₂Cl₂N₂O₅ isolated from cultures of a soil actinomycete (Streptomyces venezuelae) or prepared synthetically

Examples of chloramphenicol in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Olivers took to Facebook to tell their friends about Ike’s worsening condition, and they were then contacted by a stranger who advised them to try chloramphenicol – an antibiotic used as an eye ointment to treat human conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye. —Michael Dorgan, Fox News, 26 Nov. 2023

The antibiotics facing export limits are tinidazole, metronidazole, chloramphenicol, erythromycin salts, neomycin, clindamycin salts and ornidazole. —Vindu Goel, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2020

This Spanish outbreak, though, had a different cause, the importation of the cfr gene, which also mediates resistance to the older drugs clindamycin and chloramphenicol, apparently on a plasmid, possibly from a staph strain common in cows. —Maryn McKenna, WIRED, 15 June 2010

Word History

Etymology

chlor- + amide + phen- + nitr- + glycol

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

chloramphenicol

noun

chlor·​am·​phen·​i·​col ˌklōr-ˌam-ˈfen-i-ˌkȯl, ˌklȯr-, -ˌkōl 

: a broad-spectrum antibiotic C₁₁H₁₂Cl₂N₂O₅ isolated from cultures of a soil actinomycete of the genus Streptomyces (S. venezuelae) or prepared synthetically