Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Habitually abstemious in the use of alcoholic liquors or drugs; temperate.
- adj. Not intoxicated or affected by the use of drugs.
- adj. Plain or subdued: sober attire.
- adj. Devoid of frivolity, excess, exaggeration, or speculative imagination; straightforward: gave a sober assessment of the situation.
- adj. Marked by seriousness, gravity, or solemnity of conduct or character. See Synonyms at serious.
- adj. Marked by circumspection and self-restraint.
- v. To make or become sober.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Free from the influence of intoxicating liquors; not drunk; unintoxicated.
- Habitually temperate in the use of liquor; not given to the use of strong or much drink.
- Temperate in general character or habit; free from excess; avoiding extremes; moderate.
- Guided or tempered by reason; rational; sensible; sane; sound; dispassionate; commonplace.
- Free from violence or tumult: serene; calm; tranquil; self-controlled.
- Modest; demure; sedate; staid; dignified; serious; grave; solemn.
- Plain or simple in color; somber; dull.
- Little; small; mean; poor; weak.
- = Syn. 3–5. Cool, collected, unimpassioned, steady, staid, somber. Sober differs from the words compared under grave in expressing the absence of exhilaration or excitement, whether physical, mental, or spiritual, whether beneficial or harmful.
- To make sober; free from intoxication.
- To mitigate; assuage; soften; restrain.
- To make serious, grave, or sad: often followed by down.
- To become sober, in any sense of the word. Especially— To recover from intoxication: generally with up.
Wiktionary
- adj. not drunk; not intoxicated
- adj. not given to excessive drinking of alcohol;
- adj. in character; moderate; realistic; serious; not playful; not passionate; cool; self-controlled
- adj. dull; not bright or colorful;
- v. To make or become sober.
- v. To overcome or lose a state of intoxication.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Temperate in the use of spirituous liquors; habitually temperate.
- adj. Not intoxicated or excited by spirituous liquors.
- adj. Not mad or insane; not wild, visionary, or heated with passion; exercising cool, dispassionate reason; self-controlled; self-possessed.
- adj. Not proceeding from, or attended with, passion; calm.
- adj. Serious or subdued in demeanor, habit, appearance, or color; solemn; grave; sedate.
- v. To make sober.
- v. To become sober; -- often with
down .
WordNet 3.0
- adj. completely lacking in playfulness
- v. become sober after excessive alcohol consumption
- v. cause to become sober
- v. become more realistic
- adj. not affected by a chemical substance (especially alcohol)
- adj. lacking brightness or color; dull.
- adj. dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises
Etymologies
- From Old French sobre, from Latin sōbrius ("without wine"), from se- ("without") + ebrius ("intoxicated"), of unknown origin. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French sobre, from Latin sōbrius; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I can't use the word sober because that's a term from those people, and I have cleansed myself.”
Charlie Sheen's Radio Rant: Bashes Men Creator, Calls Women "Turds"
“The phrase sober judgment emphasizes most graphically the idea of “not being drunk” or under some influence that would warp your perception of yourself.”
“I can't use the word 'sober' because that's a term from those people, and I have cleansed myself.”
The Washington Post: The TV Column: Sheen's conduct spurs season shutdown of 'Two and a Half Men'
“He laughed, too; something about the word sober, especially as applied to him, seemed absurd.”
“That day, the group asks that families, schools, other organizations host what he calls sober parties at their homes.”
“Here he sat and for the most part drank what he called a sober glass: that is to say, he did not go home drunk, but he drank every night more than was good for him.”
““With reverence, sir,” said the boy, “he was what he calls sober, and what I would call concerned in liquor for any other person.””
“With reverence, sir," said the boy, "he was what he calls sober, and what I would call concerned in liquor for any other person.”
“Father’s eyes twinkled with delight at me, but then he turned serious, his expression sober when he gazed across the table at Daphne and saw she wasn’t amused.”
“Now in sober truth there is a magnificent idea in these monsters of the Apocalypse.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sober’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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goodkitten's list
there is going to be a lot of words...
flammivomous, pep, electrolyzation, research, constrain, why, refrigerator, invisible, windblown, curate's egg, echoism, drumble and 103 more...
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Neoclassicism
Words to describe Neoclassicism
democracy, sober, instructing, egalitarian, rational, thinker, balance, order, organized, idealistic, serious, intellectual and 36 more...
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::: Words I llike the DEFINITIONS of :::
The dichotomy of a word .... and yes *dichotomy* would be on this very list.
inflection, syntax, morpheme, oneiric, phantasmagoria, poetess, convalescence, thoughtful, sober, searching, deep, meaningful and 1 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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aliko's Words
deli, turkey, bodrum, deniz, sunny, seks, tatil, hava, zeeman, captain, kapitein, kaptan and 256 more...
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Mimi
sober, rhetoric, oratory, ergo, venom, diaphragm, Medieval, piety, incognito, ruse, calamity, evidence and 251 more...
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My Self-Descriptors: A Mirror of Text
Read this list, and read it well. When you finish, you'll know me better than my mother. That is, unless she reads this list too.
libertarian, unorthodox, unfinished, sincere, frugal, lanky, introspective, critical, laid-back, taciturn, lexiphilic, kindly and 115 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL S
surrogate, supplanted, supercilious, supersede, substantiate, synopsis, symmetry, sumptuous, swelter, swagger, surmise, summation and 156 more...
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MyVocab
A list of words to remember to incorporate into my vocabulary.
An extensive vocabulary aids expressions and communication.
Vocabulary size has been directly linked to reading com...acquiesce, self-disparaging, receded, abrogate, robust, putative, capricious, imperious, lexicon, syntax, semantics, pith and 139 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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OK
One word from each of Omar Khayyam's rubaiyat as translated by Edward FitzGerald (1st edition)
awake, liquor, tavern, suspire, ruby, incarnadine, cup, blossom, forgot, herbage, verse, drum and 63 more...
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Personality
Words that describe characters.
sage, sober, reticent, jocose, acumen, portentious, tepid, gingerly, vacuous, audacious, quixotic, vulpine and 35 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sober.

chained_bear See usage note on alcohol. Sep 10, 2008