intoxicated

American  

[in-tok-si-key-tid] / ɪnˈtɒk sɪˌkeɪ tɪd /

adjective

1. affected by a substance that intoxicates; drunk; inebriated.

2. mentally or emotionally exhilarated.

   Synonyms:

   enthralled, ecstatic, enrapt, rapturous, rapt

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Other Word Forms

• half-intoxicated
  adjective
• intoxicatedly
  adverb
• semi-intoxicated
  adjective
• unintoxicated
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of intoxicated

First recorded in 1550–60; intoxicate + -ed ²

Compare meaning

How does intoxicated compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• inebriated vs. intoxicated

Explanation

Someone who's intoxicated has had too much to drink. Visit an Irish pub on St. Patrick's Day and you're sure to see at least one intoxicated person. When you describe someone as intoxicated, you usually mean that he's been drinking alcoholic beverages until he feels dizzy and sick. You can also use the word to talk about someone who's really excited or happy about something: "She was intoxicated by Paris the minute she stepped off the airplane." Before intoxicated was first used to mean "drunk" in the 1570's, it meant "poisoned," which especially makes sense when you know the Latin root word, intoxicare, "to poison."

Example Sentences

Intoxicated by Federico García Lorca, Crumb devoted much of his music in the 1960s to unusual settings that accentuated the sheer strangeness of the Spanish poet.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 8, 2022

"You can't control what people are going to do," said Rita Kreslin, executive director of the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists.

From Chicago Tribune • Sep. 10, 2014

Two Lives, Intoxicated by Theater STRATFORD, Ontario — Much of the glory and a lot of the money in show business find their way to actors — or at least stars.

From New York Times • Aug. 21, 2012

In 2001, "going in and out of the hospital like a ping-pong ball", and contemplating imminent death, Dwoskin made Intoxicated By My Illness, assembled from material shot by himself and friends, manipulated on computer.

From The Guardian • Jul. 12, 2012

Intoxicated by the evidence of the miracle, he forgot at that moment about the frustration of his delirious undertakings and Melquíades' body, abandoned to the appetite of the squids.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Related Words

• delirious
• dizzy
• drunk