pickled

adjective

pick·​led ˈpi-kəld 

1

: preserved in or cured with pickle

pickled herring

2

: drunk sense 1a

gets thoroughly pickled before dinner

—New Yorker

Synonyms

• besotted
• blasted [slang]
• blind
• blitzed [slang]
• blotto [slang]
• bombed
• boozy
• canned [slang]
• cockeyed
• crocked
• drunk
• drunken
• fried
• gassed
• hammered [slang]
• high
• impaired
• inebriate
• inebriated
• intoxicated
• juiced [slang]
• lit
• lit up
• loaded [slang]
• looped
• oiled [slang]
• pie-eyed
• plastered
• potted [slang]
• ripped [slang]
• sloshed [slang]
• smashed [slang]
• sottish
• soused
• sozzled
• squiffed
• squiffy
• stewed
• stiff
• stinking [slang]
• stoned
• tanked [slang]
• tiddly [chiefly British]
• tight
• tipsy
• wasted [slang]
• wet
• wiped out [slang]

Examples of pickled in a Sentence

He got pickled at the office party.

I must have been rather pickled when I agreed to your stupid scheme.

Recent Examples on the Web

Plates champion some of the best local and seasonal ingredients for shareable dishes like white asparagus with pickled strawberries and goat cheese or bluefin tuna with garden peas and grilled padron peppers with pil pil sauce. —Lane Nieset, Travel + Leisure, 22 June 2025

There were also triangles of golden tomatoes and speckles of pickled red onion throughout. —Kaitlyn Rosati, New York Daily News, 11 June 2025

Slide them onto a rice bowl alongside pickled veggies. —Noah Kaufman, Bon Appetit Magazine, 10 June 2025

This refreshing combo calls for cubes of melon and the pickled rind. —Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 6 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1552, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pickled

• prickled
• tickled
• trickled

Kids Definition

pickled

adjective

pick·​led

: preserved with pickle