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Glite Dictionary
good drunk

good drunk

1 8.8
A person who has had too much alcohol but stays friendly and fun
  • noun
  • Informal
translation icon : borracho simpático

Examples

  • He goes through stages where, for months at a time, he will drink a bottle of vodka a day, and luckily for me, he is a good drunk.

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  • When he drinks, he becomes a good drunk, always making everyone laugh and enjoy the party.

  • At the gathering, Jenna was the perfect good drunk, charming everyone with her funny stories.

  • Unlike some, Mark is a good drunk who always brings joy and excitement to social events.

How Friendly

good drunk
  • Informal
1 8.8

Surface Forms

good drunk singular
good drunks plural

Morphology

good + drunk

The phrase is directly compositional: 'good' modifies 'drunk', so a B1 learner who knows 'good' and 'drunk' can infer it means a drunk person who behaves well, pleasantly, or entertainingly when intoxicated. The specific nuance — that it describes behaviour while drunk rather than overall moral character — is a small pragmatic detail but is still reasonably derivable from the constituents and common cross-linguistic patterns.

Etymology

The noun good drunk comes from watching people at parties: one person gets drunk but stays good—friendly, funny, and calm rather than angry or noisy. So it means 'a person who is pleasant or fun when drunk'.