ADDICTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does addiction mean? 

• ADDICTION (noun)
  The noun ADDICTION has 3 senses:

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

2. an abnormally strong craving

3. (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

  Familiarity information: ADDICTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ADDICTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

addiction; dependance; dependence; dependency; habituation

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

physical condition; physiological condition; physiological state (the condition or state of the body or bodily functions)

Domain category:

narcotic (a drug that produces numbness or stupor; often taken for pleasure or to reduce pain; extensive use can lead to addiction)

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

drug addiction; white plague (an addiction to a drug (especially a narcotic drug))

Derivation:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

An abnormally strong craving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

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

craving (an intense desire for some particular thing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

under Roman law addiction was the justification for slavery

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

award; awarding (a grant made by a law court)

Domain category:

civil law; jus civile; Justinian code; Roman law (the legal code of ancient Rome; codified under Justinian; the basis for many modern systems of civil law)

Derivation:

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

 Context examples 

As a result, the brains of young people may be more susceptible to drug abuse and addiction than adult brains.

(Drugs and Young People, NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse)

An institute within the National Institutes of Health with the mission to lead the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction.

(National Institute on Drug Abuse, NCI Thesaurus)

A standard instrument for assessing the intensity of physical addiction to nicotine.

(Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, NCI Thesaurus)

Many things can lead to conflict, such as illness, disability, addiction, job loss, school problems, and marital issues.

(Family Issues, NIH)

Efforts to discover and develop drugs to combat cancer and drug and alcohol addiction and methods of bioengineering to repair tissues are ripe for discovery.

(New Avenues for the Development of Therapeutics, NCI Thesaurus)

Similar to other amphetamines, dextroamphetamine has a high potential for abuse, dependence, and addiction if used in large doses over extended periods of time.

(Dextroamphetamine, NCI Thesaurus)

Smoking clove cigarettes can lead to nicotine addiction and can cause lung cancer and other lung conditions.

(Clove cigarette, NCI Dictionary)

Pharmacological and behavioral interventions, such as the combined use of nicotine replacement and biofeedback, for the treatment of physiological addictions, such as nicotine.

(Combined Pharmacological and Behavioral Treatment, NCI Thesaurus)

Research Studies that assess the behavioral and/or pharmacological treatment of individuals for nicotine dependence/addiction.

(Nicotine Dependence/Addiction on Treatment, NCI Thesaurus)

Drug addiction is associated with long-term behavioral changes, suggesting a long-lived transcriptional regulator that responds to chronic drug exposure might cause long-term changes in neuronal function.

(FosB Drug-induction Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)