addiction
[uh-dik-shuh n]
- the state of being enslaved 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.
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Origin of addiction
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
shotbentbagfixationobsessiondependencemonkeythingenslavementhang-uphookcravingkickinclinationjonesExamples from the Web for addiction
Contemporary Examples
What made you want to write a memoir now about your “addiction” to film?
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.
Those suffering from addiction in the streets risk disease, overdose, and death.
Addiction is a human problem, and this is the Native American version of it.
Sherman Alexie on His New Film, the Redskins, and Why It's OK to Laugh at His WorkWilliam O’Connor
August 22, 2014
Historical Examples
The vice of those dusky noblemen is their addiction to drink.
They call themselves practical for having an addiction to the palpable.
Lord Ormont and his Aminta, CompleteGeorge Meredith
Its advertising invites to the formation of an addiction to the drug.
The Great American FraudSamuel Hopkins Adams
The dependence thus formed can easily deteriorate into addiction.
After the RainSam Vaknin
The cause of this, I need hardly say, was his addiction to drinking.
addiction
- the condition of being abnormally dependent on some habit, esp compulsive dependency on narcotic drugs
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for addiction
n.
c.1600, "tendency," of habits, pursuits, etc.; 1640s as "state of being self-addicted," from Latin addictionem (nominative addictio) "an awarding, a devoting," noun of action from past participle stem of addicere (see addict). Earliest sense was less severe: "inclination, penchant," but this has become obsolete. In main modern sense it is first attested 1906, in reference to opium (there is an isolated instance from 1779, with reference to tobacco).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
addiction
(ə-dĭk′shən)- Habitual psychological or physiological dependence on a substance or practice beyond one's voluntary control.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.