drunkenness

English

Alternative forms

• dronkennesse (obsolete)

Etymology

drunken +‎ -ness

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɹʌŋkən.nəs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: drunk‧en‧ness

Noun

drunkenness (usually uncountable, plural drunkennesses)

1. A state of being drunk.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

     But presently the fumes of the wine rising to his head, he became helplessly drunk and his side-muscles and limbs relaxed and he swayed to and fro on my back. When I saw that he had lost his senses for drunkenness, I put my head to his legs and, loosing them from my neck, stooped down well-nigh to the ground and threw him at full length, […]

   • 1988, Jasper Ridley, A Brief History of the Tudor Age::

     The Englishman had a reputation throughout Europe for gluttony; it was said that overeating was the English vice, just as lust was the French vice and drunkenness the German vice. Some Englishmen became very fat, and were famous for being so. Henry VIII ate enormous meals, but as a young man he was slim, perhaps because he always took a great deal of physical exercise. By the time that he was forty-five he was suffering from painful ulcers in his leg which prevented him from riding or walking without the greatest difficulty; but though he ceased to take exercise, he ate as much as ever. He then became very fat.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:drunkenness

Antonyms

• soberness; see also Thesaurus:drunkenness#Antonyms

Related terms

• drunk
• drunkard
• drunken

Translations

See also

• drunkenness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia