Showing results for "inebriated"

• past participle of inebriate.
• past tense form of inebriate.

inebriated

American  

[in-ee-bree-ay-tid] / ɪnˈi briˌeɪ tɪd /

Sometimes inebriate

adjective

1. drunk or intoxicated, or exhilarated or stupefied in a way that suggests intoxication.

   An inebriated couple were arrested when they took their granddaughter for a joyride, pulling her in a toy car behind their van.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of inebriate.

Other Word Forms

• uninebriated
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of inebriated

inebriate ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Compare meaning

How does inebriated compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• inebriated vs. intoxicated

Explanation

Inebriated is just a fancy way of saying drunk. If you see a man staggering down the street grasping a bottle of rum in his hand, chances are he's inebriated. When you want to use an impressive word to say that someone is drunk, go ahead and use inebriated. If you like, you can also use it to refer to someone who is intoxicated with substances other than alcohol, but at its heart, inebriated simply means tanked, blotto, stinko, drunk. In more recent years, it has taken on the sense of being particularly energized or zany and exhilarated with drunkenness, but still drunk.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

inebriated

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

While he testified that Depp became increasingly inebriated, he said he witnessed an argument between the couple, and Depp “was kind of cowering and seemed almost afraid,” which was “odd to see.”

From Washington Post ● May 24, 2022

Cuomo defended the food-with-drinks rule over his concerns about inebriated people mingling at bars without social distancing.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 28, 2021

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