Library / English Dictionary

ADDICT

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who is physiologically dependent on a substance; abrupt deprivation of the substance produces withdrawal symptoms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("addict" is a kind of...):

drug user; substance abuser; user (a person who takes drugs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "addict"):

caffein addict; caffeine addict (someone addicted to caffeine)

drug addict; junkie; junky (a narcotics addict)

speed freak (addict who habitually uses stimulant drugs (especially amphetamines))

Derivation:

addict (to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, especially a narcotic drug))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction

Example:

a news junkie

Synonyms:

addict; freak; junkie; junky; nut

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("addict" is a kind of...):

enthusiast; partisan; partizan (an ardent and enthusiastic supporter of some person or activity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "addict"):

gym rat (someone who spends all leisure time playing sports or working out in a gymnasium or health spa)

Derivation:

addict (to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, especially a narcotic drug))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, especially a narcotic drug)

Synonyms:

addict; hook

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "addict" is one way to...):

accustom; habituate (make psychologically or physically used (to something))

"Addict" entails doing...:

habituate; use (take or consume (regularly or habitually))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

addict (someone who is physiologically dependent on a substance; abrupt deprivation of the substance produces withdrawal symptoms)

addict (someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction)

addiction ((Roman law) a formal award by a magistrate of a thing or person to another person (as the award of a debtor to his creditor); a surrender to a master)

addiction (being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs))

addictive (causing or characterized by addiction)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Little girl, here is a book entitled the 'Child's Guide,' read it with prayer, especially that part containing 'An account of the awfully sudden death of Martha G—, a naughty child addicted to falsehood and deceit.'

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Among his minor peculiarities are that he is careless as to his attire, unclean in his person, exceedingly absent-minded in his habits, and addicted to smoking a short briar pipe, which is seldom out of his mouth.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But this I will say, that his fault, the liking to make girls a little in love with him, is not half so dangerous to a wife's happiness as a tendency to fall in love himself, which he has never been addicted to.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Preventing new patients from becoming addicted to opioids may have a greater effect on the opioid epidemic than providing sustained treatment to patients already addicted, emergency medical specialist Demetrios Kyriacou wrote in the Journal.

(Study: Common Painkillers as Effective as Opioids in Hospital Emergency Room, VOA)

Had Fanny been at all addicted to raptures, she must have had a strong attack of them when she first understood what was intended, when her uncle first made her the offer of visiting the parents, and brothers, and sisters, from whom she had been divided almost half her life; of returning for a couple of months to the scenes of her infancy, with William for the protector and companion of her journey, and the certainty of continuing to see William to the last hour of his remaining on land.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I have been so little addicted to take my opinions from my uncle, said Miss Crawford, that I can hardly suppose—and since you push me so hard, I must observe, that I am not entirely without the means of seeing what clergymen are, being at this present time the guest of my own brother, Dr.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)