alcoholic
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or of the nature of alcohol.
The fermented milk has a mildly alcoholic flavor.
-
containing or using alcohol.
The bar serves beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages.
-
caused by alcohol.
alcoholic fermentation.
-
of or like a person with alcoholism or alcohol use disorder.
She hadn’t seen or spoken to her alcoholic aunt in over a decade.
-
preserved in alcohol.
Tissue shrinking in alcoholic specimens did not affect nuclear composition.
noun
noun
adjective
Sensitive Note
See addict.
Synonym Usage
See inebriate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of alcoholic
Explanation
Something that's alcoholic contains alcohol. At a party, the host may offer a pitcher of alcoholic punch and another of non-alcoholic punch. Use alcoholic to describe something that has alcohol in it, or otherwise has to do with alcohol. Alcoholic cider, for example, is fermented, and drinking too much can be intoxicating. The noun alcoholic means a person who's dependent on alcohol, whose drinking has become compulsive and unhealthy. This meaning developed in the late 1800s, from the earlier term alcoholist. The group Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935 for alcoholics to help themselves and others quit drinking.
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:
A report from Nielsen last year noted that more than 92% of people who bought nonalcoholic drinks also bought alcoholic beverages as well.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 3, 2026
A stunningly beautiful small Caribbean island, with a huge Dutch influence but fiercely proud of their own heritage - Curacao has, until now, possibly been most famous for its alcoholic drink of the same name.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
The board oversees the state’s property tax system as well as the alcoholic beverage tax and tax on insurers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
Slower growth in prices for alcoholic beverages, as well as toys, games, and hobby supplies also contributed to some downward pressure on inflation in March.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
Also because it has this big old madman desk in it that D.B. bought off some lady alcoholic in Philadelphia, and this big, gigantic bed that's about ten miles wide and ten miles long.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
Mr Ashworth is recognised with a CBE for his charity work on behalf of the children of alcoholics.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
Children of alcoholics are most often on high alert trying to anticipate other people’s feelings, so they can try to head off problems or incidents before they become overwhelming.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 15, 2022
The decision not to entirely fictionalise the island was deliberate: it isn’t renamed, and there is a reference to its former owner, Frederick Charrington, a 19th-century social reformer who created a community for recovering alcoholics.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 7, 2020
Some advocates trace L.A.'s failed policies to the city's 1975 "containment" policy on skid row, long the haven of last resort for alcoholics, the unemployable and disabled people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2019
I have been actively engaged in the practice of medicine for nearly twenty-five years, in the early portion of which I prescribed alcoholics moderately but yet with considerable frequency.
From Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why What Medical Writers Say by Allen, Martha Meir
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.
