Search

the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
Contemporary Examples

Buzz Bissinger on the shame of the sport that fed his addiction.
Derek Boogaard: The Player Hockey Hooked by Feeding Him Painkillers Buzz Bissinger June 6, 2012

This play also calls attention to your own personal struggles with addiction.
Kathleen Turner’s New Broadway High Kevin Sessums April 16, 2011

Your addiction years must help with your portrayal of Nurse Jackie, who is addicted to painkillers.
Edie Falco Comes Clean Kevin Sessums May 15, 2010

Is it the mark of true friendship to remain mostly silent as Israel feeds its addiction to the settlement project?
Canadian PM Stephen Harper Displays Lockstep Friendship With Israel at JNF Dinner Mira Sucharov December 3, 2013

After 15 years as a powerful Hollywood agent, Elisa Hallerman trades it in for life as an addiction counselor.
From High Life to a Helping Hand Elisa Hallerman September 11, 2011

Historical Examples

The richness of their country is further in harmony with the account of Egypt, and with their addiction to agricultural pursuits.
Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 1 of 3 W. E. Gladstone

The vice of those dusky noblemen is their addiction to drink.
The Idler Magazine, Vol III. May 1893 Various

But addiction to drugs is at any rate uncommon among Muhammadans.
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India R. V. Russell

They call themselves practical for having an addiction to the palpable.
Lord Ormont and his Aminta, Complete George Meredith

Perhaps the ordinary public has seldom been more unjust than in its estimate of Coleridge’s addiction to opium.
The Philosophy of Natural Theology William Jackson

noun
the condition of being abnormally dependent on some habit, esp compulsive dependency on narcotic drugs
n.

c.1600, “tendency,” of habits, pursuits, etc.; 1640s as “state of being self-addicted,” from Latin addictionem (nominative addictio) “an awarding, a devoting,” noun of action from past participle stem of addicere (see addict). Earliest sense was less severe: “inclination, penchant,” but this has become obsolete. In main modern sense it is first attested 1906, in reference to opium (there is an isolated instance from 1779, with reference to tobacco).

addiction ad·dic·tion (ə-dĭk’shən)
n.
Habitual psychological and physiological dependence on a substance or practice beyond one’s voluntary control.
addiction
(ə-dĭk’shən)

A physical or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, such as a drug or alcohol. In physical addiction, the body adapts to the substance being used and gradually requires increased amounts to reproduce the effects originally produced by smaller doses. See more at withdrawal.

A habitual or compulsive involvement in an activity, such as gambling.