"alcoholic" is a loaded overused and archaic term. Just like any other health condition, alcohol use disorder, or AUD has a scale. The DSM has a handy guide tha

"alcoholic" is a loaded overused and archaic term. Just like any other health condition, alcohol use disorder, or AUD has a scale. The DSM has a handy guide that's super easy to diagnose where you are on the spectrum: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/DSMfact.pdf https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/DSMfact.pdf There are people who haven't done anything inappropriate, dangerous, or illegal, yet have ended up in a severe health crisis because they were thinking "hey... I didn't quite reach the threshold of "alcoholic" so I can just continue the lifestyle".