Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Physiological or psychological dependence, as on a substance.
  • noun An instance of this.
  • noun The condition of being habitually occupied with or involved in something.
  • noun The condition of using something on a regular or dependent basis.
  • noun An instance of one of these conditions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being given up to some habit, practice, or pursuit; addictedness; devotion.
  • noun In Roman law, a formal giving over or delivery by sentence of court; hence, a surrender or dedication of any one to a master.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state of being addicted; devotion; inclination.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being addicted; devotion; inclination.
  • noun A habit or practice that damages, jeopardizes or shortens one's life but when ceased causes trauma.
  • noun A pathological relationship to mood altering experience that has life damaging consequences.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs)
  • noun (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
  • noun an abnormally strong craving

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From addict +‎ -ion; compare (Latin) addictio ("an adjudging, an award")

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Examples

  • The term addiction usually refers to both psychological and physical dependence on a drug, including alcohol.

    OUR BODIES, OURSELVES The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective 2005

  • My analogy regarding giving more tax dollars to Congress, likening it to heroin addiction, is quite apt.

    Matthew Yglesias » Conservatives Don’t Care About the Deficit 2010

  • Yet she wants to return to the term addiction in order to rule out dependencies on legitimately prescribed medications.

    Stanton Peele: What Is Addiction? 2009

  • While the word addiction may make you think of smoking or alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamine, there are many other things besides these traditional substances that can trigger addictive physiology—things like gambling, sex, food, even playing video games.

    THE PROGRAM KELLY TRAVER 2009

  • While the word addiction may make you think of smoking or alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamine, there are many other things besides these traditional substances that can trigger addictive physiology—things like gambling, sex, food, even playing video games.

    THE PROGRAM KELLY TRAVER 2009

  • The current directors of the agencies charged with studying drugs (the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA) and alcohol (the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or NIAAA) have both voted for returning the term addiction to DSM-V.

    Stanton Peele: What Is Addiction? 2009

  • MILLMAN: I do think that the term addiction gets overused.

    CNN Transcript Apr 1, 2006 2006

  • And that was the nature of the term addiction, or addict, well into the 1500s.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • And of course, the theme in your book is, where does the word addiction come from?

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • When I use the term addiction, I mean it as a wake-up call.

    Your Moral Leader 2008

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