zonked

American

[zongkt, zawngkt] / zɒŋkt, zɔŋkt /

Sometimes zonked out

adjective

Slang.

stupefied by or as if by alcohol or drugs; high.
exhausted or asleep.

zonked British

/ zɒŋkt /

adjective

highly intoxicated from drugs or alcohol
utterly exhausted

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of zonked

An Americanism dating back to 1955–60; zonk + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He doesn’t schedule any dinners that first week back and goes to bed at 5 p.m., if he is zonked.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 4, 2026

He said that by early evening, they were "zonked, but it's lovely".

From BBC • Dec. 26, 2025

“I had the exact same problem as Juliet,” Hunt says, “but I was so zonked at the time, I just took the easy route for a while and reverted to purees and spoon-feeding.”

From The Guardian • Nov. 26, 2019

No, I decided on the drive home, with my boy zonked on the back seat and the Jeep heater blasting.

From Salon • Sep. 26, 2018

For the first couple of days, we were so zonked by jet lag it felt as if we were moving at half speed.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023