binge

1 of 2

noun

plural binges
1
: an unrestrained and often excessive indulgence
a buying/shopping binge
a weekend-long TV binge
especially : an act of excessive or compulsive consumption (as of food or alcoholic beverages)
went on an eating/drinking binge
Meanwhile, the hangover cure pitches suggest that before every healthy New Year's resolution comes an unhealthy New Year's binge. M. Carrie Allan
see also binge drinking, binge eating, binge-watch
2
: a social gathering : party
… fancy-dress binges have always been my dish.P. G. Wodehouse

binge

2 of 2

verb

binged; bingeing or binging

intransitive verb

: to go on a binge
bingeing on beer and pretzels
Anorexics eat hardly anything while bulimics binge on large amounts of food, then purge themselves with laxatives or by vomiting or other means.Jon Marcus
binger noun

Examples of binge in a Sentence

Noun weekend binges are a serious problem at many colleges and universities a shopping binge at the mall Verb a program designed to educate college students about the dangers of bingeing
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The scoring binge the league has been on the last few seasons spread to Minnesota, with hat tricks for Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov in a six-point game for each player that matched Marian Gaborik's franchise mark. Dave Campbell, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2024 So, Indonesia has been on a binge of building new coal-burning power plants. Somini Sengupta, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024 Though a former binge drinker, Arandid said that wasn’t the inspiration for the bar’s name. Alexa Juliana Ard, Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2024 Netflix and Downton [Abbey] and we very easily binge when the kids are asleep. Nasha Smith, Peoplemag, 14 Feb. 2024 Williams famously trash-talked in Jimmy Butler’s face before Butler went on a scoring binge in last year’s Eastern Conference finals. Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 8 Feb. 2024 Many high-tech companies that went on hiring binges in 2022, as the economy accelerated out of the pandemic recession, miscalculated the longer-term demand for their products and services. Christopher Rugaber, Fortune, 3 Feb. 2024 Though Amazon is dropping all eight episodes as a binge release, Sloane and Glover have constructed a series that, like Peacock’s great Poker Face, follows a tried-and-true Case of the Week structure, and one laden with fabulous guest stars. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2024 Also past are the COVID-19 days, when U.S. consumers’ online shopping binges created a massive traffic jam in San Pedro Harbor, giving ports on the East and Gulf coasts a chance to grab cargo away from Southern California. Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2024
Verb
In its 27-year history, Netflix has gone through a major transformation from its origins as a DVD rental-by-mail service into a streaming platform that’s watched—and binged—by more than 260 million people today. Rachyl Jones, Fortune, 1 Mar. 2024 Booking a spring break trip, binging a TV show (mine: Traitors on Peacock), and finding the best shopping deals to pass the time while staying cozy on your couch. Gabrielle Porcaro, Travel + Leisure, 14 Feb. 2024 Time to schedule movie night: Classic movie lovers are getting a chance to binge on Netflix, too, now that the streaming giant has launched Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection. Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 20 Jan. 2024 Misty Copeland on the fairy tale of making her movie debut in Nutcracker and the Four Realms 10 of 11 Spencer (2021) Just finished binging The Crown and looking for more adult holiday fare? Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2023 Jean would rather binge Billions and reread Greg McKeown’s self-help book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Keyaira Boone, Essence, 2 Feb. 2024 Not that ▪ Don’t binge on carbs the night before or the day of an event. Rochelle Koff, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024 Enter: scrolling TikTok for hours, binging reruns of a comfort show, or reaching for some vice or another to take the edge off. Anna Borges, SELF, 21 Dec. 2023 Courtesy of Prime Video A decade ago, cord-cutters prophesied a world free of exorbitant cable bills where everyone binged The Office without intrusions from advertisers. Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 29 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'binge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

English dialect binge (to drink heavily)

First Known Use

Noun

1854, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1881, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of binge was in 1854

Dictionary Entries Near binge

Cite this Entry

“Binge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/binge. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

binge

noun
ˈbinj
1
: spree
2
: an act of consuming something (as food) to excess
binge verb
bingeable
ˈbin-jə-bəl
adjective

Medical Definition

binge

1 of 2 noun
: an act of excessive or compulsive consumption especially of food or alcoholic beverages see also binge drinking, binge eating

binge

2 of 2 intransitive verb
binged; bingeing or binging
: to go on a binge
… as compared to males, females were more likely to have used alcohol in the past 30 days, but less likely to have bingedKathleen Ragsdale et al., Journal of Substance Use
The bulimic patient prefers to be alone when she binges, and she binges usually for between 15 minutes and a few hours.L. K. George Hsu, Behavior Modification
binger noun

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