drunk ‧ en /ˈdrʌŋkən/ BrE AmE adjective [only before noun]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ drink , ↑ drinker , ↑ drinking , ↑ drunk , ↑ drunkenness ; adjective : ↑ drunk , ↑ drunken ; verb : ↑ drink ; adverb : ↑ drunkenly ]
1 . drunk or showing that you are drunk:
He was a drunken bully.
She was lying in a drunken stupor (=nearly unconscious from being drunk) on the sidewalk.
2 . drunken party/orgy/brawl etc a party etc where people are drunk:
Tom got into a drunken brawl (=fight) in a bar.
—drunkenly adverb
—drunkenness noun [uncountable]
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THESAURUS
▪ drunk [not usually before noun] having drunk too much alcohol so that your behaviour and mental processes are affected:
Gary was too drunk to remember what had happened that night.
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I just hope they don’t get drunk and start fighting.
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drunk driving
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The police are going to crack down on drunk drivers.
▪ tipsy/merry [not before noun] slightly drunk:
After the second glass of wine I was feeling a little tipsy.
▪ pissed [not usually before noun] British English informal drunk – this word is very common in spoken British English, but it is not polite:
Don’t listen to him – he’s pissed.
▪ intoxicated [not before noun] formal drunk:
He was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
▪ paralytic/legless [not before noun] British English informal extremely drunk:
Don’t give Dave any more to drink -- he’s already legless.
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They became totally paralytic and abusive.
▪ drunken [only before noun] especially written used to describe someone who is drunk or their behaviour. Drunken is mainly used in written English and is always used before a noun. Don’t say ‘he is drunken’. Say he is drunk :
A drunken man was found lying outside a shop door.
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We found him lying by the roadside in a drunken stupor (=almost unconscious as a result of being drunk) .