dry drunks

Noun

dry drunk (plural dry drunks)

1. A recovering alcoholic who is not drinking alcohol, but has relapsed mentally and emotionally;
   • Denise called Frank a "dry drunk." He no longer drank but he continued to indulge in "the same wild, erratic behavior binges" without the "excuse of alcohol" in his system.2013, Kate Maloy, Margaret Jones Patterson, Birth Or Abortion?: Private Struggles in a Political World, →ISBN
   1. Such a relapse.
      • Family members frequently report that a dry drunk is as difficult to live with as a "wet drunk." After all, it is not the drinking and drugging that bothers family members but the abusive, unpredictable behavior that comes with it.1991, Philip St. Romain, Freedom from Codependency, →ISBN, page 60
2. (by analogy) Any substance addict who has quit using, but remains psychologically dependent.
   • Abstinence leaves me without nicotine, but still living with the old beliefs and behaviors that cry for the drug—in short, living a "dry drunk."1990, Ellen Walker, Smoker: Self-portrait of a Nicotine Addict, →ISBN

See all 4 meanings of dry drunk