noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A chronic disease caused by compulsive and uncontrollable consumption of alcoholic beverages, leading to addiction and deterioration in health and social functioning. uncountable, usually

   "chronic alcoholism"

2. 2
   an intense persistent desire to drink alcoholic beverages to excess wordnet
3. 3
   Acute alcohol poisoning. uncountable, usually
4. 4
   habitual intoxication; prolonged and excessive intake of alcoholic drinks leading to a breakdown in health and an addiction to alcohol such that abrupt deprivation leads to severe withdrawal symptoms wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

dipsomaniadipsomaniaa habitacquired toleranceacute alcoholismaddictedness

Example

More examples

"The costs resulting from alcoholism are enormous."

Etymology

From alcohol + -ism. Derived from New Latin alcoholismus chronicus, coined by the Swedish professor of medicine Magnus Huss in 1849.

Related phrases

alcohol poisoning

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.