dry drunk

English

Noun

dry drunk (plural dry drunks)

1. A recovering alcoholic who is not drinking alcohol, but has relapsed mentally and emotionally; such a relapse.
   • 1991, Philip St. Romain, Freedom from Codependency‎^[3], →ISBN, page 60:

     Family members frequently report that a dry drunk is as difficult to live with as a "wet drunk." After all, it is not the drinking and drugging that bothers family members but the abusive, unpredictable behavior that comes with it.

   • 1995, Hamilton B., Getting Started in AA‎^[4], →ISBN, page 186:

     One of the best ways out of a "dry drunk" is to work with another still-suffering alcoholic.

   • 2013, Kate Maloy, Margaret Jones Patterson, Birth Or Abortion?: Private Struggles in a Political World‎^[5], →ISBN:

     Denise called Frank a "dry drunk." He no longer drank but he continued to indulge in "the same wild, erratic behavior binges" without the "excuse of alcohol" in his system.

   • 2020, M. D. Linville M. Meadows, A Spiritual Pathway to Recovery from Addiction, A Physician's Journey of Discovery‎^[6], →ISBN:

     "I think Big Jed's dad may be a dry drunk. He seems to have all the problems of an alcoholic, just not the drinking. […] "

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:dry drunk.
2. (by analogy) Any substance addict who has quit using, but remains psychologically dependent.
   • 1990, Ellen Walker, Smoker: Self-portrait of a Nicotine Addict‎^[7], →ISBN:

     Abstinence leaves me without nicotine, but still living with the old beliefs and behaviors that cry for the drug—in short, living a "dry drunk."

Adjective

dry drunk (not comparable)

1. Being an alcoholic who has quit drinking but otherwise has not changed.
   • 2017, The Best of The Lifted Brow: Volume Two‎^[8], →ISBN:

     But more interestingly, they distinguish between being "dry drunk"—being on the wagon, but still wanting to drink—and being "sober," neither drinking nor wanting to.