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Glite Dictionary
💊 A harmful habit ⚖️ A legal surrender
addiction

addiction

2 9.9
An official act of giving a person or thing to another as payment for a debt
  • noun
  • /əˈdɪkʃən/
  • Archaic
translation icon : adjudicación
  • Addiction Severity Index (ASI)
  • Addiction Severity
  • Addiction Severity Index

Examples

  • It is our nation's addiction to debt to finance higher education.

    Academic text (2016)

  • Drug addiction has been a long-term problem for people of all ages.

    Blog text (8)

  • Firms should monitor employee behavior to discover red flags, such as an employee living beyond his or her means, addiction problems, or financial difficulties.

    Blog text (15)

  • It's very English (and, therefore, quite Anglican) to dismiss the evangelicals as crazy people with an antiquated addiction to the Bible.

    Blog text (15)

  • But my passion for music—and my vinyl addiction—have never abated.

    Blog text (11)

  • In Roman law, an addiction is the formal award of a debtor to a creditor.

  • The magistrate made an addiction that transferred ownership of the property.

  • The court's addiction of the minor to the foster family was finalized last week.

Compounds

drug addiction
  • NSFW
28 3.4

A long-lasting problem where someone cannot stop using drugs even though it harms them

heroin addiction
  • NSFW
5 5.8

A strong need for heroin that makes a person keep using it even when it harms them

alcohol addiction
  • NSFW
3 4.2

A strong need to keep drinking alcohol that harms health and life

cocaine addiction
  • NSFW
2 6.5

A strong need to keep using cocaine despite harmful effects

nicotine addiction
1 3.2

A strong need to keep using nicotine even if you want to stop

caffeine addiction
1 4.1

A situation where a person needs caffeine and has headaches or feels annoyed when they stop

addiction studies
3.9

A university subject about addiction, its causes, and how to help people stop

Surface Forms

addiction singular
addictions plural

Morphology

addiction = addict (opaque) = addict + ion

Although formally derived from the same verb + '-ion', this Roman-law meaning ('award' or 'surrender') is not predictable from the modern sense 'to become dependent'.

Etymology

Addiction in Roman law came from the same Latin addicere, 'to give over' or 'surrender', and it was used when a judge gave a person or property to someone else as payment for a debt. So in that old legal sense addiction meant a formal giving or surrender of a person or thing.