adjective

• 1Drunk or intoxicated.

  ‘gangs of drunken youths roamed the streets’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Cola said a blitz on drunken drivers over a seven-hour period resulted in 17 arrests.’
  • ‘Shopkeepers in Walmgate complained that their parade of stores had become a meeting place for street drinkers and drunken youths.’
  • ‘That's the view of Stephen Higson, the father-of-two who was attacked in Bootham at the weekend by a gang of drunken youths.’
  • ‘The locals like to socialise, but even at the weekend you won't see gangs of drunken youths swarming through the streets.’
  • ‘Underage drunken youths are a menace to the serenity of The Green, Castledermot.’
  • ‘Random acts of violence are commonplace, as are crowds of drunken youths egging on our two brave protagonists.’
  • ‘Plans are under way to revamp a children's play area which was vandalised by drunken youths over Christmas.’
  • ‘One drunken youth, egged on by a male pal, approaches the Crimewatch team.’
  • ‘A gang of drunken youths smashed up the area's community centre with beer and whisky bottles.’
  • ‘Police are aware of drunken youths gathering at the site in the evening and are urging the public to help.’
  • ‘Ms Birtwistle said the area was plagued by drunken youths during the evening and at weekends.’
  • ‘Police were called out when a group of drunken youths went on a midnight rampage.’
  • ‘In another scene, the Tamil girl is harassed by a drunken local youth and seeks refuge in the local temple.’
  • ‘The male uniform gave a brief report, including gestures at the drunken youths, Nathalie and the dead man.’
  • ‘This was a case where a drunken driver ran over a drunken pedestrian.’
  • ‘One night, I observed a group of drunken men waiting half an hour for the red lights to appear.’
  • ‘I wasn't really the type of girl to socialise at a party full of drunken idiots and girls with hardly any clothes on.’
  • ‘In the streets, the place was full of drunken people, and it didn't look at all safe.’
  • ‘Taxi drivers at the mercy of drunken passengers on late-night runs sometimes admit to keeping a large spanner under their seat.’
  • ‘But the drunken trio fled when up to 20 Clifton youths answered a cry for help on a mobile phone.’

  Synonyms

  drunk, inebriated, intoxicated, befuddled, incapable, tipsy, the worse for drink, under the influence, maudlin

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Habitually or frequently drunk.
     ‘his violent, drunken father’
     More example sentences

     • ‘It was the ‘nightmare’ of her life with her drunken father that made her seek refuge in make-believe.’
     • ‘A high proportion of women who marry drunks also had drunken fathers.’
     • ‘Kathy is too angry and resentful to care and Josh has gradually come to grow indifferent toward his drunken distant father.’
     • ‘His drunken father, who barely knows him, just wanted a free plane ride from the military.’
     • ‘Then she stood and shoved her drunken father with all the strength she could manage.’
     • ‘This is the story of a boy growing up with a drunken father and a philandering mother.’
     • ‘Of course, it never occurred to the landlord he was in actual fact selling the drinks to this drunken monstrosity.’
  2. 1.2Caused by or showing the effects of drink.
     ‘the man's drunken, slurred speech’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Their warning comes as the Government has announced a crackdown on binge drinking and drunken anti-social behaviour.’
     • ‘Will longer drinking hours mean more drunken violence and alcohol-fuelled bad behaviour?’
     • ‘It happened one night when he returned from a family party in a drunken stupor, brandishing a shotgun and threatening to kill his wife and child.’
     • ‘Pauline went on to say that others, in a drunken stupor, regularly use the estate as a toilet and not just for urinating.’
     • ‘Police found him at the flat, almost naked and in a drunken stupor.’
     • ‘It feels strange watching him, now that I know many times that drunken slur was faked.’
     • ‘It was then that she noticed that his voice was completely clear of any drunken slur.’
     • ‘For some reason I wasn't charged but several other players were asked to pay their huge hotel bar bills after a night of drunken debauchery.’
     • ‘The spectacle that is the weekly toga party can only be described as complete drunken debauchery.’
     • ‘If it's a holiday of drunken debauchery you want, this is not your dream destination.’
     • ‘When he got around to telling about his drunken speech, Theresa saw her next opening.’
     • ‘I am supposed to be writing a drunken blog post but I'm not drunk.’
     • ‘Even the poignantly romantic In the Still of the Night comes a little oddly at the end of a second act filled with allegations of drunken debauchery.’
     • ‘Alex's voice, though not yet slurred, was obviously beginning to take on a drunken edge.’
     • ‘Not only was Paul frightened of his father's drunken wrath, all the children were.’
     • ‘Her mother shot and killed her alcoholic father in self-defence during a drunken argument in front of their daughter.’
     • ‘I explained that it was his father, my husband, on one of his drunken rampages.’
     • ‘Ama went through the door of her house still in enough of a drunken daze to forget that her father was not the kind to let her get to her room before unloading on her.’
     • ‘Before that, he regularly witnessed his father beat his mother in fits of drunken rage.’
     • ‘They flee the dacha when the father is shot by Mikhail in a drunken misunderstanding.’
     Synonyms

     debauched, dissipated, riotous, carousing, revelling, roistering, uproarious, unruly, intemperate, unrestrained, uninhibited, abandoned

     View synonyms