cocaine

cocaine — noun

1. A white powder from the leaves of the coca plant. It is mostly known as an illeg

1.nounB2
Definition

A white powder from the leaves of the coca plant. It is mostly known as an illegal drug that gives users a short feeling of great energy and happiness and causes strong addiction. Doctors may also apply it to numb a small area of the body during medical procedures.

Example

Police found a bag of cocaine hidden inside a driver's coat at the border checkpoint.

collocation: a bag of cocaine hidden in [location]

For surgery, doctors may use cocaine as a local anesthetic to numb eye surfaces.

medical use: cocaine as a local anesthetic

Common collocations
  • cocaine addiction
  • cocaine dealer
  • cocaine trafficking
  • cocaine use
  • cocaine habit
  • cocaine trade
  • cocaine possession
  • cocaine overdose
  • cocaine abuse
Synonyms
  • coke

    informal slang term for cocaine; common in casual speech but not appropriate in formal or medical writing.

  • crack

    a specific, more addictive form of cocaine that is smoked rather than snorted; not a synonym for pure powdered cocaine.

  • snow

    dated slang term for cocaine; rarely used by younger speakers today.

Grammar Patterns

cocaine + noun (cocaine addiction, cocaine dealer)

some / a bag of / a line of + cocaine

Usage Note

Uncountable noun — do not say 'a cocaine' or 'cocaines'. Use 'some cocaine' or structures like 'a bag of cocaine'. Frequently paired with nouns describing the drug trade or addiction: cocaine dealer, cocaine trafficking, cocaine habit.

Common Mistakes

He bought a cocaine from a stranger.
He bought some cocaine from a stranger.
cocaine is uncountable; use 'some cocaine' or 'a bag of cocaine.'
Cocaines are found in many cities.
Cocaine is found in many cities.
cocaine is uncountable and always takes a singular verb.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Cocaine is the standard, neutral English term for the drug, appropriate in medical, legal, and general contexts. Crack refers specifically to a smokable form of cocaine that is cheaper and more addictive — it is a distinct substance, not a synonym for powdered cocaine. Coke is the most common informal slang word for powdered cocaine, widely used in everyday speech and song lyrics, but it is too casual and vague for medical or journalistic writing. Snow is an older slang term that peaked in mid-20th-century counterculture; modern speakers rarely use it except in crime fiction or historical contexts. For example, a news report would say 'police seized 50 kilograms of cocaine' rather than '50 kilograms of snow,' and a doctor would warn a patient about 'cocaine dependence,' not 'coke dependence.'

cocaine ↗crack ↗coke ↗snow ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • bag of cocaine
  • line of cocaine
  • cocaine addiction treatment
  • cocaine trafficking ring
  • cocaine possession charge

Prepositions

  • of cocaine
  • with cocaine
  • for cocaine

Etymology

QuechuaSpanishFrenchEnglish

The word 'cocaine' was coined in French as cocaïne around 1856, combining coca (the South American shrub whose leaves are the source of the drug) with the chemical suffix -ine (used for alkaloids and other substances). The Spanish coca was borrowed from Quechua kuka, the Incan name for the plant that indigenous peoples of the Andes had chewed for centuries for energy and altitude sickness.