ebriety

English

Etymology

From French ébriété (“drunkenness”), from Latin ēbrietātem, from ēbrius (“drunk”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈbɹaɪ.ɪt.i/
• Rhymes: -aɪɪti
• Hyphenation: ebri‧e‧ty

Noun

ebriety (countable and uncountable, plural ebrieties)

1. (uncountable) The state of intoxication, drunkenness.

   Antonym: sobriety

   • 1902, William James, “Lectures XVI and XVII: Mysticism”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 412:

     God's touches, the wounds of his spear, references to ebriety and to nuptial union have to figure in the phraseology by which [a mystical state] is shadowed forth.

   • 1902 August 21, Henry James, The Wings of the Dove, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

     It had been as the murmurous consecration to follow the murmurous welcome; and even if it were but part of Aunt Maud's own spiritual ebriety—for the dear woman, one could see, was spiritually "keeping" the day—it served to Milly, then and afterwards, as a high-water mark of the imagination.

2. (countable, obsolete) An instance of being drunk.

Derived terms

• inebriety