drunkenness

n.

1. The state of being drunken with, or as with, alcoholic liquor; intoxication; inebriety; -- used of the casual state or the habit.

The Lacedemonians trained up their children to hate drunkenness by bringing a drunken man into their company.

I. Watts.

2. Disorder of the faculties, resembling intoxication by liquors; inflammation; frenzy; rage.

Passion is the drunkenness of the mind.

South.

Syn. -- Intoxication; inebriation; inebriety. -- Drunkenness, Intoxication, Inebriation. Drunkenness refers more to the habit; intoxication and inebriation, to specific acts. The first two words are extensively used in a figurative sense; a person is intoxicated with success, and is drunk with joy. «This plan of empire was not taken up in the first intoxication of unexpected success.» Burke.

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n

Definition: intoxication
Antonyms: sobriety

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The state of an individual whose mind is affected by the consumption of alcohol.

Drunkenness is a consequence of drinking intoxicating liquors to such an extent as to alter the normal condition of an individual and significantly reduce his capacity for rational action and conduct. It can be asserted as a defense in civil and criminal actions in which the state of mind of the defendant is an essential element to be established in order to obtain legal relief.

IN BRIEF: The act of drinking alcoholic beverages to excess.

Drunkenness is nothing but a self-induced state of insanity. — Seneca (4 BC-65 AD)