intoxicant

American  

[in-tok-si-kuhnt] / ɪnˈtɒk sɪ kənt /

noun

1. an intoxicating intoxicating agent, as alcoholic liquor or certain drugs.

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adjective

1. intoxicating intoxicating or exhilarating.

   the clear, intoxicant air of the mountains.

intoxicant British  

/ ɪnˈtɒksɪkənt /

noun

1. anything that causes intoxication

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adjective

1. causing intoxication

Other Word Forms

• nonintoxicant adjective

Etymology

Origin of intoxicant

1860–65; < Medieval Latin intoxicant- (stem of intoxicāns ), present participle of intoxicāre to poison. See in- ², toxicant

Example Sentences

But that just means you have to treat this relationship as an intoxicant vs. nourishment.

From Washington Post • Aug. 15, 2021

The crowd has been compared to an electric spark, a dance partner, an intoxicant and a character in and of itself.

From New York Times • Sep. 4, 2020

Music is an intoxicant and a revelation, an accompaniment to mourning and to celebration; it bears the marks of both Apollo and Dionysus.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2018

There were familiar disputes about whether De Quincey was corrupting the young, but the main intoxicant on display was his prose, which derived its power from being written in the grip of its subject.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 10, 2016

Upon the Arabs it acted like an intoxicant.

From With the Turks in Palestine by Aaronsohn, Alexander