addict

UK/ˈæd.ɪkt/US/ˈæd.ɪkt/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,539 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: addicts

An addict is somebody who cannot give up a habit or a substance. A drug addict, a recovering addict, addicted to it.

Clinicians avoid the noun now and say a person with an addiction, because the label sticks to the whole person and stigma keeps people from seeking help. Addiction is treatable, and treatment works better than punishment. The Latin means given over to.

Definitions of addict

1nounaddictSomebody who cannot give up a habit or a substance.B2
“He was a gambling addict who lost his house at the casino.”

addict is a person.

Where it comes from

Latin addictus means made over or given up to, from ad plus dicere, to say — in Rome it named a debtor handed over to a creditor.

Latin
addictus
English, today
addict

Built from

addīcō · Latin — deliver; devote; surrender
ad- · Latin — to, towards, at
dīcō · Latin — say; declare

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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