Words / P / Medicine

potency

noun/ˈpəʊtənsi/

B1CEFR level
30/100Rarity: fairly common
TechnicalRegister

The amount of a drug required to produce a given effect, an expression of the dose needed rather than the maximal effect achievable.

Fentanyl's high potency means microgram quantities produce analgesia equivalent to milligrams of morphine.

Topic: Pharmacology in Medical English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More medicine words: Pharmacology