intoxicated
Americanadjective
-
affected by a substance that intoxicates; drunk; inebriated.
-
mentally or emotionally exhilarated.
- Synonyms:
- enthralled, ecstatic, enrapt, rapturous, rapt
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of intoxicated
First recorded in 1550–60; intoxicate + -ed 2
Compare meaning
How does intoxicated compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Someone who's intoxicated has had too much to drink. Visit an Irish pub on St. Patrick's Day and you're sure to see at least one intoxicated person. When you describe someone as intoxicated, you usually mean that he's been drinking alcoholic beverages until he feels dizzy and sick. You can also use the word to talk about someone who's really excited or happy about something: "She was intoxicated by Paris the minute she stepped off the airplane." Before intoxicated was first used to mean "drunk" in the 1570's, it meant "poisoned," which especially makes sense when you know the Latin root word, intoxicare, "to poison."
Vocabulary lists containing intoxicated
Three Little Words
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"The Nightingale" by Hans Christian Andersen
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Elf Dog and Owl Head
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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.
Now the law: The two sides agree the Founders had no problem barring intoxicated people from carrying guns.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026
“Infantino is intoxicated by the elite circles of power, status and wealth, into which he has been elevated,” Goldblatt said.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 7, 2025
To actually feel intoxicated, a chimp would need to eat so much fruit that its stomach would become painfully distended.
From Science Daily • Dec. 1, 2025
Her guards "should check that anyone approaching her is not intoxicated or armed," he added.
From Barron's • Nov. 5, 2025
At. first, intoxicated by the glory of his return, by his remarkable victories, he had peeped into the abyss of greatness.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
