View synonyms for addiction

addiction

[ uh-dik-shuhn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the state of being compulsively committed to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

addiction

/ ə-dĭk′shən /

A physical or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, such as a drug or alcohol. In physical addiction, the body adapts to the substance being used and gradually requires increased amounts to reproduce the effects originally produced by smaller doses.
See more at withdrawal
A habitual or compulsive involvement in an activity, such as gambling.

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin addictiōn- (stem of addictiō ) “a giving over, surrender”; addict, -ion

What made you want to write a memoir now about your “addiction” to film?

I was talking to one of my friends, who had just recently gotten over a drug addiction, who she tried to talk to about this case.

Methamphetamine addiction is central to more than one story.

I had graduated NYU just a few years earlier and begun a career in publishing, but the addiction got the best of me.

The lure and addiction of gaming—which went back to pinball, of course—became a sensation with Asteroids.

It is most frequent among those whose addiction to alcohol for years has caused repeated paroxysms of delirium tremens.

But non-drug addiction is a major crime against the state of Omega.

Bagsby was a punchy man, with a bald head, and a nose which betokened his habitual addiction to the fiery grape of Portugal.

Addiction to the practice of occult arts had evidently become general in the now semi-orientalized city.

The addiction to sports, therefore, in a peculiar degree marks an arrested development of the man's moral nature.

April 18, 2024petrichor

[pet-ri-kawr]

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