Idiom
Go cold turkey
To go cold turkey is to stop a habit or addiction suddenly and completely, instead of cutting down little by little.
How people use it
People use it for quitting smoking, sugar, coffee, social media or any habit at once (I went cold turkey on soda in January). It also appears as quit cold turkey or stop cold turkey. The tone is informal. In medicine and addiction recovery, it means stopping a drug abruptly, which can cause unpleasant withdrawal and sometimes needs a doctor's help. In everyday talk it often just means quitting all at once.
Also said: cold turkey, quit cold turkey, stop cold turkey.
Examples
- Ana went cold turkey on coffee and had a headache for three days.
- Instead of cutting back slowly, Leo quit video games cold turkey during exam season.
- My dad went cold turkey on sugar after his yearly checkup.
Where it comes from
The phrase is American and first appears in the early 1900s, with the drug sense common by the 1920s. One popular explanation says people in withdrawal get goosebumps and pale, clammy skin, like a plucked, cold turkey. Another links it to older phrases such as talk turkey, meaning to speak plainly, so cold turkey meant blunt and without preparation. No one knows for sure which is right.
Check yourself
1. If someone goes cold turkey on sugar, what do they do?
Answer: Stop eating sugar suddenly and completely. Going cold turkey means quitting all at once, not gradually.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: Omar deleted every game from his phone and went cold turkey.. Deleting every game at once is quitting cold turkey. Cutting back slowly is the opposite, and the roast is literal.
Word game fan? See every word hiding in TURKEY.