: a hypnotic or anesthetic held to induce a subject under questioning to talk freely
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebThe #nofilter Moussa can be disarmingly childlike and offensively straightforward, and Bouajila plays him like a zombie who’s been injected with too much truth serum. Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2022 Steve and Robin end up getting captured, tortured and injected in truth serum. Abby Dupes, Seventeen, 26 May 2022 The next four games are the truth serum: at Wyoming, at Utah State, Colorado State, at Nevada. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Dec. 2021 Now it was being recast as a kind of truth serum, a tool of deep personal introspection.New York Times, 15 Nov. 2021 There’s truth serum involved, as well as an elementary-school yearbook, an interrupted road trip, too many coincidences, and a connection to a horrific crime. Vulture Editors, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2021 Amalia tricks Mundi into revealing his personal history with Mary by bringing along a touched prostitute whose turn has rendered her mere bodily presence into truth serum. Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 18 Apr. 2021 Short of a shot of truth serum, or a couple glasses of red wine, Brey’s never going to say. Tom Noie, Indianapolis Star, 31 May 2020 His love acted on me, as on everyone, like a truth serum. Benjamin Taylor, The Atlantic, 21 Apr. 2020 See More
Word History
First Known Use
1913, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
truth serum
noun
: a hypnotic or anesthetic (as thiopental) held to induce a subject under questioning to talk freely