1. the practice of prescribing or taking multiple medications simultaneously, especially when some may be unnecessary or interact with each other
Usage: medical/healthcare context; often used to describe a potential problem in patient care

Examples

• The elderly patient's polypharmacy regimen included ten different medications, raising concerns about drug interactions.
• Doctors are working to reduce polypharmacy by reviewing which medications are truly necessary.
• Polypharmacy can increase the risk of adverse side effects in older adults.
• The pharmacist identified potential problems with the patient's polypharmacy and recommended simplifying the medication list.
• Managing polypharmacy is an important part of comprehensive geriatric care.