junkie

noun

junk·​ie ˈjəŋ-kē How to pronounce junkie (audio)
variants or less commonly junky
plural junkies
1
a
disparaging + offensive : a person who is addicted to narcotics and especially to heroin
b
: a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something
a television news junkie
Adrenaline junkies weren't the only ones who marveled as Austrian daredevil Baumgartner broke the world record for the highest and fastest skydive …Maura Judkis
2
: a junk dealer

Examples of junkie in a Sentence

heroin junkies wasting their lives
Recent Examples on the Web The writer-director is more than a murder-mystery junkie. A.a. Dowd, Chron, 25 Jan. 2023 Kingsbury is a football junkie who’s going to walk away with great on-the-job experience and reportedly about $30 million after getting sacked with several years left on his contract. Greg Moore, The Arizona Republic, 10 Jan. 2023 Not everyone is a political junkie, or has watched the ideological perceptions of people change over time, but this was really bizarre for me. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 13 Feb. 2013 Those who haven’t pulled the trigger on a gift for the outdoors junkie on their hit list had better get to it. Matt Williams, Dallas News, 9 Dec. 2022 Again, this doesn’t mean that every gamer is on the verge of transforming into a gaming junkie straight out of a bad CSI episode. Mark Hill, Discover Magazine, 2 Feb. 2022 And rookie wing Ochai Agbaji is something of a soccer junkie, having played the sport through high school, and being selected by multiple teammates as the best footballer on the team. Eric Walden, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 Dec. 2022 On our screens, Stewart was a regular guy from New Jersey, as well as a political junkie who couldn’t believe that news professionals were taking politicians and their claims—including those that led to the Iraq War—at face value. Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 10 Dec. 2022 Three days after the play and with plenty of opportunity to watch the film, that still wasn’t good enough for Phillips III, a noted film junkie at the practice facility. Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Dec. 2022

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

Word History

First Known Use

1902, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of junkie was in 1902

Dictionary Entries Near junkie

Cite this Entry

“Junkie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/junkie. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

junkie

noun
junk·​ie
variants also junky
plural junkies
1
: a person who sells or is addicted to narcotics
2
: a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or is dependent on something
a sugar junkie
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