anaesthetic

> anaesthetic and analgesic
anaesthetic and analgesic are liable to be confused. As an adjective, anaesthetic means "producing a loss of feeling", as in "inject the patient with an anaesthetic substance", and as a noun it means "a substance that produces a loss of feeling", as in "administer an anaesthetic to the patient on the operating table". A local anaesthetic produces a loss of feeling in only part of the body, as in "remove the rotten tooth under local anaesthetic". A general anaesthetic produces loss of feeling in the whole body and induces unconsciousness, as in "The operation on his leg will have to be performed under general anaesthetic". As an adjective analgesic means "producing a lack of or reduction in, sensitivity to pain, pain-killing", as in "aspirin has an analgesic effect". As a noun analgesic means "a substance that produces a lack of, or reduction in, sensitivity to pain", as in "aspirin, paracetamol, and other analgesics".