alcohol use disorder

noun

variants or less commonly alcohol-use disorder

plural alcohol use disorders also alcohol-use disorders

: a medical condition characterized by a pattern of frequent and usually excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, by strong cravings for alcohol often accompanied by episodes of depression, anxiety, or distress, by symptoms (such as restlessness or sweating) of alcohol withdrawal, and by the impaired ability to stop or control the intake of alcohol despite adverse effects on one's work, school, or family obligations

Note: Alcohol use disorder ranges from mild to severe and is typically considered to encompass conditions also referred to as alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, and alcoholism.

Over the long term, teen alcohol use can interfere with normal brain development and can increase the chance that the teens will develop an alcohol use disorder later in life.

—Cindy Kurman

About 40 to 50 soldiers assigned to Fort Meade are now undergoing treatment for alcohol use disorders.

—Lisa Rhodes

An estimated 18 million Americans suffer from alcohol-use disorder, as the DSM-5, the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual, calls it. … Only about 15 percent of those with alcohol-use disorder are at the severe end of the spectrum. The rest fall somewhere in the mild-to-moderate range …

—Gabrielle Glaser

—abbreviation AUD

Examples of alcohol use disorder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their research found that people with alcohol use disorder drank less after taking semaglutide — the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic– compared with with people who took a placebo. —Bruce Gil, Quartz, 20 June 2024

From June 27 to July 25, Bronstein entered a residential treatment program, where he was diagnosed with severe alcohol use disorder and anxiety disorder, the memorandum states. —Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 18 June 2024

Documents obtained by the Idaho Statesman showed 65-year-old Dennis Mulqueen, the Boise man suspected of killing Bolter, as a largely nonviolent person who long struggled with an alcohol use disorder and had numerous — but minor — interactions with law enforcement. —Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman, 18 June 2024

But medications for alcohol use disorder are less familiar to the public and used less frequently. —Joseph P. Schacht, The Conversation, 20 May 2024

Medications approved for alcohol use disorder As of May 2024, three medications have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of alcohol use disorder. —Joseph P. Schacht, The Conversation, 20 May 2024

There are also effective medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat opioid, tobacco, and alcohol use disorders. —Brian Hurley and Paul N. Samuels, STAT, 13 May 2024

Clinical trials combining psilocybin with psychotherapy in the weeks before and after taking the drug report substantial improvements in symptoms of psychiatric conditions such as treatment-resistant depression and alcohol use disorder. —Kevin F. Boehnke, The Conversation, 10 May 2024

Across the country, more than 48 million people had a drug or alcohol use disorder, according to the latest results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. —Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

alcohol use disorder

noun

variants also alcohol-use disorder

: a medical condition characterized by a pattern of frequent and usually excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, by strong cravings for alcohol often accompanied by episodes of depression, anxiety, or distress, by symptoms (such as restlessness or sweating) of alcohol withdrawal, and by the impaired ability to stop or control the intake of alcohol despite adverse effects on one's work, school, or family obligations

Note: Alcohol use disorder ranges from mild to severe and is typically considered to encompass conditions also referred to as alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, and alcoholism.

Alcohol use disorder, a problematic pattern of alcohol use accompanied by clinically significant impairment or distress, is present in up to 14% of US adults during a 1-year period, although only about 8% of affected individuals are treated in an alcohol treatment facility.

—Henry R. Kranzler and Michael Soyka, The Journal of the American Medical Association

Despite physicians' awareness of the importance of screening and probing for alcohol use disorders, one problem that might explain the failure of screening to become routine could be that physicians "aren't sure what to do once they obtain a history" that suggests a problem, Dr. [Keith A.] Nichols said.

—Naseem S. Miller, Internal Medicine News

An estimated 18 million Americans suffer from alcohol-use disorder, as the DSM-5, the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual, calls it. … Only about 15 percent of those with alcohol-use disorder are at the severe end of the spectrum. The rest fall somewhere in the mild-to-moderate range …

—Gabrielle Glaser, The Atlantic

—abbreviation AUD