noun
alcohol
AL-kuh-hol
noun
1
Ethanol, the intoxicating chemical found in beer, wine, and spirits.
"She avoids alcohol during the week."
"The recipe calls for wine, but the alcohol cooks off during simmering."
2
Drinks that contain ethanol, considered as a group.
"The store doesn't sell alcohol after 10pm."
3
In chemistry, any of a family of organic compounds containing a hydroxyl (-OH) group, of which ethanol is just one example.
"Isopropyl alcohol is used to clean wounds, not drunk."
How to Use Alcohol
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe chemical in beer, wine, and spirits that makes them intoxicating; also used as a general chemistry term for a whole family of related compounds.
Common mistake
In everyday speech "alcohol" almost always means the drinkable kind (ethanol); the broader chemistry sense (isopropyl alcohol, etc.) is a separate, more technical use.
Common pairings
drink alcohol
alcohol content
rubbing alcohol
Word Forms
alcohols plural
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Etymology
From Medieval Latin alcohol, from Arabic al-kuhl, originally referring to a fine powder (kohl eyeliner). The meaning shifted over centuries — first to "any fine powder," then to distilled spirits, and finally, by the 1800s, to the specific chemical ethanol.