Alcoholics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who suffer from a chronic addiction to alcohol, characterized by an inability to control their drinking behavior
2. Those identified as having alcohol use disorder, frequently facing challenges in maintaining sobriety and coping with cravings
3. Individuals who exhibit a compulsive need to consume alcoholic beverages, often leading to negative consequences in their personal and social lives

Etymology: The noun "alcoholics" is simply the plural of "alcoholic," and the word's history is a story of chemistry rather than of people. The root lies in the Arabic "kuhl," a fine powder used as eye cosmetic, which passed through Medieval Latin as "alcohol" to mean a fine powder or essence. Over the centuries the sense drifted from powders toward distilled essences, and only later narrowed to the liquid intoxicant we know today. The adjective "alcoholic" was formed in English from "alcohol" with the suffix "-ic," which is common in chemistry terms (compare "acidic" or "organic"). Its first recorded use dates to 1891, when it was attached to "alcohol" to describe things containing or relating to that substance. The noun use, describing people who drink to excess, developed later from that adjective, and the plural "alcoholics" follows naturally from it.

Synonyms: drunks, addicts, boozers