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dipsomania

American  
[dip-suh-mey-nee-uh, -soh-] / ˌdɪp səˈmeɪ ni ə, -soʊ- /

noun

  1. (no longer in technical use) an irresistible, typically periodic craving for alcoholic drinks.

dipsomania British  
/ ˌdɪpsəʊˈmeɪnɪə /

noun

  1. a compulsive desire to drink alcoholic beverages

"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

Etymology

Origin of dipsomania

First recorded in 1835–45; from New Latin, from Greek díps(a) “thirst” + -o- connecting vowel + manía “enthusiasm (for)”; -o- -mania

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

No "psychological" picture is complete nowadays without a case of amnesia, schizophrenia, paranoia or at least galloping dipsomania.

From Time Magazine Archive

It had the Thin Man's pace, bounce and snappy dialogue, exciting murder and air of amiable dipsomania.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tell me, how soon can you cure a man of—of dipsomania?…

From In Secret by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)

Surely young men and women should be taught something of the causes of zymotic disease, and of scrofula, consumption, rickets, dipsomania, cerebral derangement, and such like.

From Sanitary and Social Lectures, etc by Kingsley, Charles

Some of the cases of hereditary dipsomania are almost surely of this character.

From Essays In Pastoral Medicine by ?Malley, Austin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.