sober

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See also: Sober and sõber

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old French sobre, from Latin sōbrius, from se- (“without”) + ebrius (“intoxicated”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁egʷʰ- (“drink”). In the sense "not drunk," displaced native undrunken, from Old English undruncen.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

sober (comparative soberer, superlative soberest)

  1. Not drunk; not intoxicated.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sober
    Antonyms: drunk; see also Thesaurus:drunk
  2. Not under the influence of any recreational drug.
  3. Not given to excessive drinking of alcohol.
    Synonym: abstemious
    • 1890, John Charles Cox, “The Sober Life”, in The Godly, Righteous, And Sober Life, page 35:
      Amid all the confusion and disorder that sin has introduced into the world, the Christian in union with God has a grace or Divine help that enables him to live the sober, self-restrained life.
    • 2020 December 29, Hilary Sheinbaum, “Finding Love Without Alcohol”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
      After eliminating alcohol from their lives, some sober individuals exclusively date nondrinkers.
    • (Can we date this quote?), (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[2]:
      Rose told me that she's sober.
  4. (figurative) Moderate; realistic; serious; not playful; not passionate; cool; self-controlled.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:moderate, Thesaurus:serious
  5. (of color) Dull; not bright or colorful.
    Synonyms: muted, subdued
  6. Subdued; solemn; grave.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:serious
    • 1717, Alexander Pope, Letter from Edward Blount, Esq.:
      See her sober over a sampler, or gay over a jointed baby.
    • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC:
      What parts gay France from sober Spain? A little rising rocky chain.
  7. (Scotland) Poor; feeble.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

sober (third-person singular simple present sobers, present participle sobering, simple past and past participle sobered)

  1. (often with up) To make or become sober.
    • 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism:
      There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, / And drinking largely sobers us again.
    • 1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53:
      The night air may have sobered him a bit by the time they got back to Beattock.
  2. (often with up) To overcome or lose a state of intoxication.
    It took him hours to sober up.
  3. To moderate one's feelings; to accept a disappointing reality after losing one's ability to believe in a fantastic goal.
    Losing his job was a sobering experience.

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French sobre, from Latin sobrius.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

sober

  1. sober (in character; moderate; realistic; serious)

Inflection[edit]

Inflection of sober
Positive Comparative Superlative
Indefinte common singular sober sobrere sobrest2
Indefinite neuter singular sobert sobrere sobrest2
Plural sobre sobrere sobrest2
Definite attributive1 sobre sobrere sobreste
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Dutch sober, from Old French sobre, from Latin sōbrius. Doublet of zuiver.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

sober (comparative soberder, superlative soberst)

  1. simple, plain, austere
    Synonym: eenvoudig
    Antonym: overdadig
  2. sober, not drunk
    Synonym: nuchter
    Antonym: dronken

Declension[edit]

Inflection of sober
uninflected sober
inflected sobere
comparative soberder
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial sober soberder het soberst
het soberste
indefinite m./f. sing. sobere soberdere soberste
n. sing. sober soberder soberste
plural sobere soberdere soberste
definite sobere soberdere soberste
partitive sobers soberders —

Derived terms[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French sobre.

Adjective[edit]

sober (comparative sobrare, superlative sobrast)

  1. moderate
  2. stylish, discreetly tasteful

Inflection[edit]

Inflection of sober
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular sober sobrare sobrast
Neuter singular sobert sobrare sobrast
Plural sobra sobrare sobrast
Masculine plural3 sobre sobrare sobrast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 sobre sobrare sobraste
All sobra sobrare sobraste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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