Meaning & use
stop cold turkey
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiominformal
To stop using an addictive substance or habit suddenly and completely, without gradual reduction or medical help.
Grammar: Used as an intransitive verb phrase: you stop cold turkey; do not say 'stop cold turkey something'.
Patterns
- stop cold turkey
- go cold turkey
- quit something cold turkey
He decided to stop cold turkey after ten years of smoking.
She stopped cold turkey and felt terrible for a week.
Doctors often warn patients not to stop cold turkey if the withdrawal could be dangerous.
phraseidiominformalfigurative
To end any regular activity or habit abruptly and completely, not just drug use.
Grammar: Often followed by 'on' plus the activity: stop cold turkey on something.
Patterns
- stop cold turkey on something
- go cold turkey on something
I stopped cold turkey on social media for a month.
He went cold turkey on coffee and got headaches.
Common combinations
- go cold turkey
- She went cold turkey on sugar for Lent.
- quit cold turkey
- Many smokers try to quit cold turkey at least once.
- stop cold turkey
- He stopped cold turkey the day his daughter was born.
- cold turkey method
- The cold turkey method works for some people but not everyone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- quit abruptly
- A neutral, formal way to say the same thing; use it in medical or official contexts.
- give up
- More general and less informal; it does not necessarily mean stopping suddenly.
- withdraw
- A technical verb for stopping a substance, often under supervision, so it is not the same as doing it alone.
Opposites
Word family
- cold turkey noun
- The act of stopping suddenly: 'Cold turkey is hard but fast.'
Commonly confused: stop cold turkey or cold cut?
stop cold turkey vs cold cut
A cold cut is sliced meat; it sounds similar but has nothing to do with stopping a habit.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'stop cold turkey' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The idiom takes 'on' before the thing you give up: 'stop cold turkey on something'. Option 0 wrongly puts the object right after the phrase, and options 2 and 3 are not grammatical English.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stop cold turkey”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.