- a variation of inebriated.
inebriate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
inebriates,
present (3rd person singular)
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inebriated,
past participle, past
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inebriating
present participle
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to make drunk; intoxicate.
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to exhilarate, confuse, or stupefy mentally or emotionally.
noun
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an intoxicated person.
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a habitual drinker of alcohol who is frequently intoxicated.
adjective
verb
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to make drunk; intoxicate
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to arouse emotionally; make excited
noun
adjective
Synonym Usage
Inebriate and drunkard are terms for a person who drinks heavily or drinks hard liquors habitually. Drunkard is a judgmental label that connotes willful indulgence to excess. Inebriate is a formal term that sounds more factual or neutral than the stigmatizing label drunkard. Dipsomaniac is a rare, older term for a person who, because of some psychological or physiological illness, has an irresistible craving for liquor. Today, the dipsomaniac is more commonly called an alcoholic —another label that is judgmental and sometimes offensive. Rather than using either of those labels, it is more sensitive and accurate to describe such an individual as a person with alcohol use disorder, or a person who has alcoholism .
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inebriatesimple
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inebriatessimple
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have inebriatedperfect
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has inebriatedperfect
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am inebriatingprogressive
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are inebriatingprogressive
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is inebriatingprogressive
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have been inebriatingperfect progressive
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has been inebriatingperfect progressive
Past
-
inebriatedsimple
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had inebriatedperfect
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was inebriatingprogressive
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were inebriatingprogressive
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had been inebriatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inebriate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin inēbriātus, past participle of inēbriāre “to make drunk,” equivalent to in- intensive prefix + ēbri(us) “drunk” + -ātus past participle suffix; see in- 2, -ate 1
Explanation
If a party host wants to inebriate her guests, she'll serve them many alcoholic drinks. In other words, she'll try to get them drunk. Use the verb inebriate to describe what happens when someone or something intoxicates a person. If you realize that your lemonade is inebriating you, you probably accidentally ordered an alcoholic drink that tastes like lemonade. You can also use inebriate to describe something that's beautiful or thrilling: "There is nothing like watching the sun rise over the mountains to inebriate me." The Latin root, inebriatus, simply means "to make drunk."
Vocabulary lists containing inebriate
Novel Study: Animal Farm, Chapters 5–10
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Killing Lincoln
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Stories of Ourselves
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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.
See Examples For:
She was an earthly personification of Emily Dickinson's inebriate of air and debauchee of dew, stoned on life and art.
From Time Magazine Archive
United Architects entered a widely seen proposal in the competition, an ensemble of five slightly inebriate towers.
From Time Magazine Archive
Testimonials to the cup that cheers but does not inebriate have been culled from Thackeray, Athaeneus, Pliny, Aristotle, Galen, Plutarch.
From Time Magazine Archive
What to drink that won't inebriate Put on weight or contain cyclamate.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is de ladies who do cheer but not inebriate, and, derefore, vid all homage to dere sex, de toast dat I have to propose is, 'De Ladies!
From Recitations for the Social Circle by James Clarence Harvey
And as a pair, they can be as quick, acerbic and caustically funny as the inebriates in the classic English movie “Withnail and I,” which is saying a lot.
From New York Times ● Sep. 27, 2015
Snug as a bug, the cup he waits That cheers but not inebriates, She offers him a truly ducal tea, Whipped up, she says, with no diffewclty.
From Time Magazine Archive
In China, to get natives to buy kerosene, Standard salesmen sold lamps for less than a song, for a cheep as inebriates of Singapore used to say.
From Time Magazine Archive
No intoxicating drink was to be got, and the cup that cheers but not inebriates has been Tommy's only stimulant.
From From Aldershot to Pretoria A Story of Christian Work among Our Troops in South Africa by R. W. Allen
Secondly, it can be taken by way of metaphor, so that Christ's Passion is understood by the chalice by way of comparison, because, like a cup, it inebriates, according to Lam.
From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas
In the end, the idleness inherent in a vacation lays bare Ashim, whom Aparna catches sight of while he is washing up outdoors and while dancing in an inebriated state with his comrades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
He said when Depp was inebriated, he would also “insult his fans” and call them “remoras,” also known as suckerfish.
From Washington Post ● May 17, 2022
Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum came out as bisexual in an interview with Tamron Hall that aired Monday, six months after he was found inebriated and vomiting in a Miami hotel room.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2020
Responding to Gervais’ question about something he said while inebriated, Gibson said, “I don’t know. Ask the guy who said it. It wasn’t me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2016
What Disraeli said of Gladstone was also true of Churchill: he was “a sophisticated rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity.”
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
I was overcome by exhilarating, almost inebriating, episodes of gratitude overload brought on by an appreciation of small pleasures.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 11, 2022
Museums and thousands of cool regional events often need volunteers, and the perks can be inebriating.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2011
They fear a new age of philistinism, a moment when the nation finally gives up on serious culture and focuses instead on making money and inebriating itself on talent contests and celebrity chat shows.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2011
The odors of peanuts, mustard and beer waft over the emerald green grass, and in the inebriating sunshine, laughter and catcalls issue from the bleachers.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was something inebriating in the suppleness of this feat.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
