intoxicative
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in·tox·i·cate
(ĭn-tŏk′sĭ-kāt′)v. in·tox·i·cat·ed, in·tox·i·cat·ing, in·tox·i·cates
v.tr.
1.
a. To impair the physical and mental faculties of (a person) by means of alcohol or a drug or other chemical substance: served strong cocktails that intoxicated all the guests.
b. To damage physiologically by means of a chemical substance; poison: birds that were intoxicated by pesticides.
2. To stimulate or excite: "a man whom life intoxicates, who has no need of wine" (Anaïs Nin).
v.intr.
To cause impairment, stimulation, or excitement by or as if by use of a chemical substance: "The notion of Holy War is showing that it has not yet lost all its power to intoxicate and to inflame" (Conor Cruise O'Brien).
[Middle English, to poison, from Medieval Latin intoxicāre, intoxicāt- : Latin in-, in; see in-2 + Late Latin toxicāre, to smear with poison (from Latin toxicum, poison; see toxic).]
in·tox′i·cat′ing·ly adv.
in·tox′i·ca′tive adj.
in·tox′i·ca′tor n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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intoxicative
adjectiveContaining alcohol:
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