Drunk Meaning
/dɹʌŋk/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjIntoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages.
adjHabitually or frequently in a state of intoxication.
Sentence Examples
You've drunk three cups of coffee.
You're too drunk to drive.
They were clearly too drunk to drive.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After three glasses of wine, he was quite ____ and could not walk straight.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You've ____ three cups of coffee.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English drunke, drunken, ydrunke, ydrunken, from Old English druncen, ġedruncen (“drunk”), from Proto-Germanic *drunkanaz, *gadrunkanaz (“drunk; drunken”), past participle of Proto-Germanic *drinkaną (“to drink”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian dronken, West Frisian dronken, Dutch dronken, gedronken, German Low German drunken, bedrunken, German trunken, getrunken, betrunken, Swedish drucken, Icelandic drukkinn.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"So I took a great dry gourd and, cutting open the head, scooped out the inside and cleaned it; after which I gathered grapes from a vine which grew hard by and squeezed them into the gourd, till it was full of the juice. Then I stopped up the mouth and set in the sun, where I left it for some days, until it became strong wine; and every day I used to drink of it, to comfort and sustain me under my fatigues with that from froward and obstinate fiend; and as often as I drank myself drunk, I forgot my troubles and took new heart."
— 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 557”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
""What part of 'you got drunk' did our parents misunderstand?" "I only drank a few shots!""
— 2013 May 9, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Thursday, May 9, 2013:
"drunk with recent prosperity"
— 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
"I will make mine arrows drunk with blood."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 32:42:
"She famously could not drive, but she introduced the breathalyser test to prosecute drunks who tried to."
— 2025 November 26, Howard Johnston, “Top 10: Influential ministers: Barbara Castle 1965-68”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 61:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After three glasses of wine, he was quite ____ and could not walk straight.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You've ____ three cups of coffee.