marijuana
marijuana Lexical Profile
marijuana Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A psychoactive drug prepared from the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds of the Cannabis plant, used for medical, recreational, or spiritual purposes.
"The state legislature recently passed a bill to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana for patients with chronic pain."
The herbaceous plant itself (Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica), native to Central and South Asia, cultivated globally for its psychoactive and medicinal properties.
"Law enforcement discovered a remote greenhouse where hundreds of marijuana plants were being illegally cultivated."
Word Nuance & Usage
While 'marijuana' is widely used in colloquial and legal contexts, 'cannabis' is increasingly preferred in scientific, medical, and formal literature due to historical racial and political stigmas associated with the term 'marijuana' during early 20th-century drug prohibition.
• Rhymes for marijuana
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Mexican Spanish 'mariguana' or 'marihuana' in the late 19th century. The ultimate origin is unknown, though it was later altered by folk etymology to resemble the Spanish personal names María and Juana.