NEUROLEPTIC

[neu.ro.lep.tic] n [F neuroleptique, fr. neur- + -leptique affecting, fr. Gk leptikos seizing, fr. lambanein to take, seize--more at latch] (1958): any of the powerful tranquilizers (as the phenothiazines) used esp. to treat psychosis and believed to act by blocking dopamine nervous receptors--called also antipsychotic -- neuroleptic adj