addict Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction
    nut; freak; junkie; junky.
    • a golf addict
    • a car nut
    • a bodybuilding freak
    • a news junkie
  2. noun someone who is physiologically dependent on a substance; abrupt deprivation of the substance produces withdrawal symptoms
  3. verb to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, especially a narcotic drug)
    hook.

WordNet


Ad*dict" past participle
Definitions
  1. Addicted; devoted. Obs.
Ad*dict" transitive verb
Etymology
L. addictus, p. p. of addicere to adjudge, devote; ad + dicere to say. See Diction.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Addicted; present participle & verbal noun Addicting
Definitions
  1. To apply habitually; to devote; to habituate; -- with to. "They addict themselves to the civil law." Evelyn.
    He is addicted to his study. Beau. & Fl.
    That part of mankind that addict their minds to speculations. Adventurer.
    His genius addicted him to the study of antiquity. Fuller.
    A man gross . . . and addicted to low company. Macaulay.
  2. To adapt; to make suitable; to fit. Obs.
    The land about is exceedingly addicted to wood, but the coldness of the place hinders the growth. Evelyn.
    Syn. -- Addict, Devote, Consecrate, Dedicate. Addict was formerly used in a good sense; as, addicted to letters; but is now mostly employed in a bad sense or an indifferent one; as, addicted to vice; addicted to sensual indulgence. "Addicted to staying at home." J. S. Mill. Devote is always taken in a good sense, expressing habitual earnestness in the pursuit of some favorite object; as, devoted to science. Consecrate and dedicate express devotion of a higher kind, involving religious sentiment; as, consecrated to the service of the church; dedicated to God.

Webster 1913