dipsomania
/ˌdɪpsə(ʊ)ˈmeɪnɪə/
dipsomania · noun — addiction to alcohol. It carries an Arena rating of 1603, earned across 16 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dipsomania ranks #966 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #1,756 of 17,195 for Most Exacting Words, #1,790 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #1,897 of 17,197 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
dipsomania is pronounced /ˌdɪpsə(ʊ)ˈmeɪnɪə/.
Why “dipsomania” is a great word
A compulsive, often periodic, craving for and indulgence in alcoholic drink. From New Latin, from Greek dípsa ('thirst') + -mania ('madness, enthusiasm for'), first recorded in English in the 1840s from German Dipsomanie. Unlike 'alcoholism' (a broad, clinical term for sustained dependency) or 'sobriety' (the stable state of abstinence), dipsomania is the sudden, violent possession by thirst itself. It is the tremor of a hand reaching for the first glass at noon, the frantic calculation of a remaining bottle's worth, and the profound, shameful calm that descends only when the last drop is gone—a madness that arrives not as a constant roar, but in the quiet, tidal pull of a specific, recurring midnight.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From dipso- (“thirst; drinking”) + -mania.
noun
- Addiction to alcohol.
- Specifically periodic alcoholism, characterized by bouts of heavy drinking rather than continuous indulgence in alcohol.
- A strong craving for something.e.g.“A most ingenuous youth was Master Snape, round-eyed, round-cheeked, with an ever ready smooth and round unvarnished tale—a youth afflicted with a dipsomania for information.” — 1883 November 10, Basil [pseudonym; Richard Ashe King], “A Drawn Game”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, volume XXXII, number 780, page 507, column 1:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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