addict

[ad-ikt, uh-dikt]

noun

1. Sometimes Offensive.

   1. 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.

   2. 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.

   Synonyms: junkie, fanatic, adherent

2. a devoted fan; enthusiast; devotee: My kids are manga addicts.

   She’s a real baseball addict.

   My kids are manga addicts.

verb (used with object)

1. 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.

2. to habituate or abandon (oneself) to something compulsively or obsessively: There was a lot of worry about children becoming addicted to video games.

   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.

addict

verb

1. to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, esp a narcotic drug)

noun

1. a person who is addicted, esp to narcotic drugs

2. informal,  a person who is devoted to something

   a jazz addict

Sensitive Note

Drug and alcohol addiction was historically considered a moral failing, demonstrating a weakness of character. This disparaging connotation persists in the nouns addict and alcoholic , in spite of our evolving modern understanding of the problem. 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 Word Forms

• addicting adjective
• nonaddict noun
• nonaddicting adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of addict¹

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin addictus “assigned, surrendered,” past participle of addīcere, equivalent to ad- “toward” + dic-, variant stem of dīcere “to fix, determine”; ad-

Word History and Origins

Origin of addict¹

C16: (as adj and as vb; n use C20): from Latin addictus given over, from addīcere to give one's assent to, from ad- to + dīcere to say

Example Sentences

I was not supposed to be a drug addict.

Read more on Salon

We gave our children the addictive devices—we were addicted to them ourselves—and felt powerless to control the forces we had set loose in our own families.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It’s no surprise that he is addicted to painkillers.

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Patients often come through recruiters—widely known as body brokers in the industry—who are paid to target people addicted to drugs with promises of recovery in glamorous California seaside rehabs.

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He admitted some of the new trees were water “addicts,” but said the estate would wait several years before planting any further vegetation.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• devotee 
• enthusiast 
• fanatic 
• fiend 
• freak 
• hound 
• nut