cold turkeynoun [ U ]
uk/ˌkəʊld ˈtɜː.ki/us/ˌkoʊld ˈtɝː.ki/slangthe period of extreme suffering that comes immediately after a person has stopped taking a drug on which they depend:
Six years ago she went cold turkey on (= stopped completely) a three-pack-a-day smoking habit.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Drug addiction
- buzzed up
- chemical dependency
- crack house
- crackhead
- druggie
- glue-sniffer
- habit
- habit-forming
- head
- hooked
- junkie
- needle exchange
- on
- pothead
- smackhead
- sniffer
- substance abuse
- taker