addict
Sometimes Offensive.
a person who has become physically or psychologically dependent on a chemical substance: The leader of the addiction recovery center is, importantly, a self-identified former drug addict.
a person with an uncontrolled compulsion to continue engaging in an activity despite suffering negative personal or professional consequences:The funding is for treatment programs for sex addicts and pathological gamblers.
a devoted fan; enthusiast; devotee: She’s a real baseball addict.My kids are manga addicts.
to cause to become physically or psychologically dependent on an addictive substance, as alcohol or a narcotic.The documentary claimed that the tobacco industry used marketing techniques to addict new generations of children.
to habituate or abandon (oneself) to something compulsively or obsessively: It can be hard to read a writer addicted to the use of high-flown language. There was a lot of worry about children becoming addicted to video games.
Origin of addict
1usage note For addict
Addiction is the complicated result of genetic predisposition intersecting with dysfunctional behavior, neurochemical modification, environmental factors, and social influences. Many major medical associations treat addiction as a disease, in part because it is a chronic condition that is demonstrably present in a person’s neurophysiology.
Medical professionals, specialists, and advocates in the addiction treatment and recovery community suggest using language that focuses on the whole person and specifically mentions addiction or addictive behaviors only when those details are relevant. As an alternative to calling someone an addict or alcoholic , describe that person as someone who is addicted to painkillers , an individual with drug addiction , a person who drinks alcohol excessively , or someone who uses amphetamines .
Labels matter. People who have an addiction are human beings, first and foremost. They should not be reduced by the label addict or alcoholic to be defined by a single facet of their complex humanity.
Other words for addict
Other words from addict
- ad·dict·ing, adjective
- non·ad·dict, noun
- non·ad·dict·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use addict in a sentence
Holmes addicts had arrived at the show from all over the world.
Loosies are generally bought by cigarette addicts who have trouble affording a whole pack at the taxed rate.
Without interventions, addicts are released in the community without the tools to maintain stable abstinence.
The last five years of his life were characterized by the pattern of ups and downs familiar to many addicts.
The Drunken Downfall of Evangelical America's Favorite Painter | Zac Bissonnette | June 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThey find places where heroin use is rampant and feed off the endorphins of pleasure that addicts experience.
Punks, UFOs, and Heroin: How ‘Liquid Sky’ Became a Cult Movie | Daniel Genis | June 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Next, he informs us more openly, why he rather addicts himself to satire than any other kind of poetry.
Dryden's Works (13 of 18): Translations; Pastorals | John DrydenWhen Earth had deported all addicts two decades before, it had practically begged for dope smuggling.
Police Your Planet | Lester del ReyShe then addicts herself once more to the manufacture of the flour-grains, of which she has directly made a perfect mountain.
The government sensibly outbid all the addicts and operators in order to save what is left for medical use.
Revenge | Arthur PorgesTrigger knew about Vethi sponges and their addicts, though she hadn't seen either before.
Legacy | James H Schmitz
British Dictionary definitions for addict
(tr; usually passive often foll by to) to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, esp a narcotic drug)
a person who is addicted, esp to narcotic drugs
informal a person who is devoted to something: a jazz addict
Origin of addict
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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