Definition of "alcohol addiction" []

• Habitual intoxication; prolonged and excessive intake of alcoholic drinks leading to a breakdown in health and an addiction to alcohol such that abrupt deprivation leads to severe withdrawal symptoms (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "I had been excited by Virginia Davis’ theory that alcohol addiction and opiate addiction have the same biochemical base; excited to learn that alcohol-produced TIQs are the same as those involved in producing morphine in the poppy plant; and excited to hear her suggestion that TIQs might prove to be addictive."
• "Because of this attitude, too, most nonalcoholics, and many members of alcoholic families in the past have shied away from learning the truth about alcoholism, and consequently have remained uninformed about its causes and profoundly ignorant of the disastrous effects that alcohol addiction has on the individual, the family, and the society."