in a unexpected and sudden way
stop a habit (esp. bad habit) suddenly
stop a habit without tapering off
withdraw abruptly and completely
the sudden ending of taking a medication or drug to which one is addicted
He had been trying to quit smoking since a year but couldn’t, so he decided to go cold turkey.
When drug addicts go cold turkey they experience a period of extreme suffering.
He went cold turkey on his drinking habit two years ago and hasn’t had a drink since.
If you are unable to control your habit, consider going cold turkey.
To cure his addiction to video games, he decided to go cold turkey and gave his entire collection away.
The experts quit cold turkey, leaving the part timers to finish the job.
He had been addicted to dating apps lately, so he decided to go cold turkey and deleted all of them.
If all other attempts at quitting fails, you should go cold turkey.
There is no origin for this idiom
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definition
Common phrase that has a specific meaning.