English

Noun

dipsomaniac ‎(plural dipsomaniacs)

1. One with a morbid paroxysmal craving for alcohol; an alcoholic.
   • 1909, G. K. Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw, New York: John Lane, “The Progressive,” p. 54,

     The dipsomaniac and the abstainer are not only both mistaken, but they both make the same mistake. They both regard wine as a drug and not as a drink.

   • 1956, James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room, Penguin, 2001, Part Two, Chapter 2,

     The Spaniards are nice, but, of course, most of them are terribly poor, the ones who aren’t are impossible, I don’t like the tourists, mainly English and American dipsomaniacs, paid, my dear, by their families to stay away.

2. A persistently drunken person; a drunkard.

Synonyms

• alcoholic
• dipso
• drunkard
• sot
• lush

Antonyms

• abstain
• teetotal
• temperance
• on the wagon

Translations

Related terms

• dipsomania
• dipsomaniacal