intoxication

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪntɑksɪˈkeɪʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪntɒksɪˈkeɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: in‧tox‧i‧ca‧tion

Noun

intoxication (countable and uncountable, plural intoxications)

1. A poisoning, as by a spirituous or a narcotic substance.

   He suffered acute intoxication from the combined effects of several drugs.

2. The state of being intoxicated or drunk.

   Synonyms: inebriation, ebriety, drunkenness

3. The act of intoxicating or making drunk.
4. (figuratively) A high excitement of mind; an elation which rises to enthusiasm, frenzy, or madness.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter III, in Francesca Carrara. , volume I, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 35:

     Excitement leads to enthusiasm, that moral intoxication, whose effects seem incredible to the sober, while the influence which produces the extravagance appears more extraordinary than the act itself.

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From intoxiquer +‎ -tion.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

intoxication f (plural intoxications)

1. poisoning
2. the act of spreading false information or propaganda

Usage notes

In French, the word intoxication is used more broadly than in English to refer to the poisoning of an organism by a variety of means such as herbicide or poisonous gas as well as by alcohol or narcotics.

Derived terms

• intoxication alimentaire

Further reading

• “intoxication”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Interlingua

Noun

intoxication (uncountable)

1. intoxication