Skip to main content

Drunk vs Drunken vs Intoxicated vs Inebriated vs Tipsy vs Tight

Drunk, drunken, intoxicated, inebriated, tipsy, tight are comparable when they mean being conspicuously under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

Drunk and drunken are the plainspoken, direct, and inclusive terms.

Drunk and drunken differ in that drunk is commonly used predicatively or postpositively, while drunken is chiefly attributive.

Drunken frequently suggests habitual drinking to excess; it also applies to whatever pertains to or proceeds from intoxication.

Intoxicated may be exactly synonymous with drunk, though it is generally felt to be a less offensive term and has thus come to be applied often to a person but slightly under the influence of liquor.

Inebriated implies such a state of intoxication that exhilaration or undue excitement results.

All these words are used in a figurative sense as implying excess of emotion.

Tipsy implies a degree of intoxication that deprives one of muscular or sometimes of mental control.

Tight usually implies obvious intoxication, but does not suggest loss of power over one’s muscles.