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heroin chic

British  

noun

  1. the perceived glamorization of heroin and the characteristics associated with heroin addicts, such as gauntness and hollow eyes

"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

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.

A decade on she says: "I think we're on the cusp of seeing heroin chic return."

From BBC • Aug. 8, 2025

Fashion journalist and consultant Victoria Moss does not think we are facing "heroin chic" but instead connects the trend to the rise of weight loss injections.

From BBC • Aug. 8, 2025

“It was a pivotal time and it’s only now that we’re starting to fully grasp it. The same sensitivities that heroin chic provoked then, now sometimes come through as accusations of cultural appropriation.”

From The Guardian • May 23, 2019

Even as he saw echoes of his photographs in the rise of "heroin chic" fashion journalism, he never capitalised on it himself.

From The Guardian • Feb. 13, 2011

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.