alcoholic
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Having more than a trace amount of alcohol in its contents.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
alkuhhahlikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ælkəˈhɑlɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually
“As a recovering alcoholic, he attends support meetings every week.”
A person who is addicted to alcohol.
One who abuses alcohol.
adjective
Of, pertaining to, or affected by alcoholism.
Characteristic of or containing alcohol
Of or pertaining to alcohol.
Having more than a trace amount of alcohol in its contents.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually
Used this way, alcoholic is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“As a recovering alcoholic, he attends support meetings every week.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- boozer , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use alcoholic
- “He ordered an alcoholic beverage.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Habitual intoxication.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Excessive use of alcohol and alcoholic drinks.
A liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent.
Dementia observed during the last stages of severe chronic alcoholism.
A liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent.
An international organization that provides a support group for persons trying to overcome alcoholism.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Excessive use of alcohol and alcoholic drinks.
Excessive use of alcohol and alcoholic drinks.
Habitual intoxication.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- alcoholismnoun
- cocktailnoun
- alcoholnoun
- soberadjective
- drunkadjective
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.