addict

Borrowed from Latin addictus, past participle of addīcō (“deliver; devote; surrender”), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + dīcō (“say; declare”)

• (noun)
  • enPR: ădʹĭkt, IPA^(key): /ˈæd.ɪkt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (adjective, verb)
  • enPR: ə-dĭktʹ, IPA^(key): /əˈdɪkt/

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɪkt

addict (plural addicts)

1. A person who is addicted, especially to a harmful drug.

   a heroin addict

   He is an addict when it comes to chocolate cookies.

   • 2006 June 25, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, “An Anti-Addiction Pill?”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[1]:

     Those nonaddicts who picked a winning card had increased blood flow to the striatum, but the gambling addicts who picked the right card had much less of it (their reward system was less active).

   • 2011 August 1, Richard A. Friedman, “Who Falls to Addiction, and Who Is Unscathed?”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     A stressful environment in which there is ready access to drugs can trump a low genetic risk of addiction in these animals. The same may be true for humans, too. And that’s a notion many find hard to believe: Just about anyone, regardless of baseline genetic risk, can become an addict under the right circumstances.

2. An adherent or fan (of something).

• (person who is addicted): junkie (one addicted to a drug), slave
• (adherent or fan): adherent, aficionado, devotee, enthusiast, fan, habitue
• See also Thesaurus:addict

• addiction
• addictive
• dictate

• → French: addict

addict (comparative more addict, superlative most addict)

1. (now rare) Addicted.
2. (obsolete) Bound, tied to, obligated.

addict (third-person singular simple present addicts, present participle addicting, simple past and past participle addicted)

1. (transitive, Ancient Rome) To deliver (someone or something) following a judicial decision. [from 16th c.]
2. (reflexive, now rare, archaic) To devote (oneself) to a given activity, occupation, thing etc. [from 16th c.]
   • 1644 November 4 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 25 October 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

     They addict themselves to the civil law.

   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 88, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume III, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Having resided some time in this place, we returned to the other country-house which we had left, where lord B— addicted himself so much to hunting, and other male diversions, that I began to think he neglected me […] .

3. (transitive, obsolete) To bind (a person or thing) to the service of something. [16th–18th c.]
4. (reflexive, obsolete) To devote or pledge (oneself) to a given person, cause etc. [16th–19th c.]
5. (transitive, now rare, archaic) To devote (one's mind, talent etc.) to a given activity, occupation, thing etc. [from 16th c.]
   • January 19, 1754, Samuel Johnson, The Adventurer, number 126:

     That part of mankind that addict their minds to speculations.

6. (transitive) To make (someone) become devoted to a given thing or activity; to cause to be addicted. [from 17th c.]
   • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC:

     His genius addicted him to the study of antiquity.

• (cause someone to become addicted, especially to a harmful drug): get (someone) hooked
• (devote): consecrate, dedicate, devote
• (adapt): adapt, fit

• addicting
• addictive
• readdict

• → Cebuano: adik
• → Tagalog: adik

• didact

Borrowed from English addict.

• IPA^(key): /a.dikt/

• Audio:

  (file)

addict (feminine addicte, masculine plural addicts, feminine plural addictes)

1. (colloquial) addicted

   Synonym: accro

   • 2025 June 25, Sandra Lorenzo, quoting Coline, “Interdiction des écrans avant trois ans : bientôt un arrêté ?”, in La Provence, sourced from AFP, →ISSN, Grand Sud:

     Pour mon mari qui est très téléphone^[sic], c'est beaucoup plus difficile, il est plus addict que moi.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

addict m (plural addicts, feminine addicte)

1. (colloquial) addict

   Synonym: accro

• addiction

• IPA^(key): /əˈdik(t)/

addict (plural addicts)

1. an addict

addict (third-person singular simple present addicts, present participle addictin, simple past addictit, past participle addictit)

1. to addict

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.