alcoholic
pronunciation
How to pronounce alcoholic in British English:
UK [ˌælkəˈhɒlɪk]
How to pronounce alcoholic in American English:
US [ˌælkəˈhɑːlɪk]
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- Noun:
- a person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually
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- Adjective:
- used of beverages containing alcohol
- addicted to alcohol
Word Origin
- alcoholic (adj.)
- 1790, "of or pertaining to alcohol;" see alcohol + -ic. Meaning "caused by drunkenness" is attested by 1872; meaning "habitually drunk" by 1910. Noun sense of "one who is addicted to drinking in excess, chronic drunkard, old rounder" is recorded from 1891; earlier alcoholist (1888). Alcoholics Anonymous founded 1935 in Akron, Ohio, U.S. Alky is first recorded 1844 as a slang shortening of "alcoholic liquor;" 1960 in the sense of "a drunkard."
Example
- 1. For years I 'd told myself I wasn 't an alcoholic .
- 2. But when it comes to inflation , brazil is a recovering alcoholic .
- 3. A friend who works at an advertising agency has a colleague who is an alcoholic .
- 4. It 's such a relief but also I worry because my mother is an alcoholic .
- 5. I come from a very difficult background my father was a wife-beater and my mother an alcoholic .