DRUG ADDICTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does drug addiction mean? 

• DRUG ADDICTION (noun)
  The noun DRUG ADDICTION has 1 sense:

1. an addiction to a drug (especially a narcotic drug)

  Familiarity information: DRUG ADDICTION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRUG ADDICTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An addiction to a drug (especially a narcotic drug)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

drug addiction; white plague

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

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

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 "drug addiction"):

alcohol addiction; alcoholism; drunkenness; inebriation (habitual intoxication; prolonged and excessive intake of alcoholic drinks leading to a breakdown in health and an addiction to alcohol such that abrupt deprivation leads to severe withdrawal symptoms)

cocaine addiction (an addiction to cocaine)

heroin addiction (an addiction to heroin)

caffein addiction (an addiction to caffein)

nicotine addiction (an addiction to nicotine)

 Context examples 

Although delta-FosB is very stable, it does degrade after several weeks, while the behavioral changes of drug addiction persist much longer after drug exposure ends.

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

Group IV: Patients with a history of drug addiction and cancer-related pain.

(Cancer Pain Group, NCI Thesaurus)

Drug dependence - replaced the term drug addiction and is defined as a state, psychic and sometimes also physical, resulting from the interaction between a living organism and a drug, characterized by behavioral and other responses that always include a compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or periodic basis in order to experience its psychic effects, and sometimes to avoid the discomfort of its absence.

(Drug Dependence, 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)