besotted

adjective

be·​sot·​ted bi-ˈsä-təd 

bē-

1

: utterly infatuated

besotted lovers

became besotted with each other

They have a mad affair. He is besotted.

—Newgate Callendar

2

: intoxicated or stupefied especially with alcohol

We issued into an empty street through a half-open door, staggering like besotted revellers.

—Joseph Conrad

besottedly adverb

She had gone back with him to his flat that first night … besottedly in love with him.

—Anne Mulcock

besottedness noun

I was besotted with the idea and the reality of Venice, and that besottedness has never quite left me …

—Erica Jong

Did you know?

Stumble on the word sot and you will likely find it attached to a person who tends to over-imbibe. The word has referred to a habitual drunkard since the late 16th century, and before that—from the days of Old English—it referred to a fool generally. The now-archaic verb sot followed a similar trajectory, its original meaning of “to cause to appear foolish” being joined later by its “to drink alcohol excessively” meaning. The earliest known recorded use of the related adjective besotted (in the late 16th century, from the the verb besot), however, described a state of figurative intoxication: one besotted was stupefied by love rather than liquor. The still-current sense of besotted meaning “drunk” didn’t show up until the early 19th century. In fact, evidence of the “infatuated” sense of besotted also predates the tipple-related senses of the noun sot, verb sot, and verb besot, suggesting perhaps that love may be the strongest intoxicant of all.

Synonyms of besotted

• drunk
• drunken
• fried
• wet
• impaired
• blind
• wasted

Examples of besotted in a Sentence

the friends agreed they couldn't let him drive in his besotted condition

Recent Examples on the Web

In front of me at her show sat a group of young women who seemed besotted by Sui’s faux fur coats and bags and her paillette beanies and sparkly twinsets. —José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 19 Feb. 2026

Carolyn sneaks into a gala; Klein, the fairy godmother, introduces her to the instantly besotted prince, John. —Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 14 Feb. 2026

Burnishing his cult of personality is, for all but the most besotted or trollish, not on that list. —Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 8 Feb. 2026

In America's gladiatorial two-party system, that could well deprive Republicans of a winning political issue with which to batter out-of-touch, climate change-besotted Democrats. —MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1580, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for besotted

• allotted
• boycotted
• carotid
• parotid
• unspotted
• blotted
• clotted
• dotted
• jotted
• knotted
• plotted
• potted

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