junkie

noun

junk·​ie ˈjəŋ-kē 

variants or less commonly junky

plural junkies

1

a

disparaging + offensive : a person who is addicted to narcotics and especially to heroin

b

: a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something

a television news junkie

Adrenaline junkies weren't the only ones who marveled as Austrian daredevil Baumgartner broke the world record for the highest and fastest skydive …

—Maura Judkis

2

: a junk dealer

Synonyms

• addict
• dopehead
• doper
• druggie
• druggy
• fiend
• freak [slang]
• head
• hophead [slang]
• hype [slang]
• stoner
• user

Examples of junkie in a Sentence

heroin junkies wasting their lives

Recent Examples on the Web

The writer-director is more than a murder-mystery junkie. —A.a. Dowd, Chron, 25 Jan. 2023

Kingsbury is a football junkie who’s going to walk away with great on-the-job experience and reportedly about $30 million after getting sacked with several years left on his contract. —Greg Moore, The Arizona Republic, 10 Jan. 2023

Not everyone is a political junkie, or has watched the ideological perceptions of people change over time, but this was really bizarre for me. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 13 Feb. 2013

Those who haven’t pulled the trigger on a gift for the outdoors junkie on their hit list had better get to it. —Matt Williams, Dallas News, 9 Dec. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1902, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

junkie

noun

junk·​ie

variants also junky

ˈjəŋ-kē 

plural junkies

1

: a person who sells or is addicted to narcotics

2

: a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or is dependent on something

a sugar junkie