supine

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (3)  · 
“
Erect or supine, these colossal statues were strewn all over the island.

View all »
Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. adjective Lying on the back or having the face upward.
  2. adjective Having the palm upward. Used of the hand.
  3. adjective Marked by or showing lethargy, passivity, or blameworthy indifference. See Synonyms at inactive.
2 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • The words "supine" and "new Labour stooges" are thrown around. —  Top stories from Times Online
  • Norman Baker, transport spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said the "supine" Department for Transport had bowed to lobbying by BAA, Heathrow's owner. —  EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed
  • My point, which was pretty clear, was that in Putin's Russia the press is "supine" for entirely different reasons, and any comparison between a government that controls the news media and terrorizes its critics with the current Palin media blackout is simply bizarre. —  Libertarian Blog Place
  • Systolic arterial pressure spectral power at the low frequency decreased from 5.7 + / - 1.6 (supine) to 4.4 + / - 1.6 mmHg2 (head down) (P = 0.02), and mean arterial pressure spectral power at the low frequency decreased from 3.3 + / - 0.79 (supine) to —  CiteULike: Everyone's library
  • This particular stretch consists of lying down supine, one knee folded on the other, and bringing the other knee to the chest, thereby stretching the folded one. —  A Twist of Word and Mind
More examples »
 

Tags

supine hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 183 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English supin, Latin verbal noun, from Late Latin supīnum (verbum), (verb) lying on its back, (verb) going back, neuter of Latin supīnus; see upo in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. = Spanish Portuguese Italian supino, from Latin supinus, turned or thrown backward, lying on the back, prostrate, also going backward, retrograde, going downward, sloping, inclined; figuratively, inactive, negligent, careless, indolent; neuter supinum, sc. verbum, applied in Late Latin to the verbal noun in -tum, -tu (the supine), and also to the verbal form in -ndum (the gerund), literally ‘the absolute verb’—that is, a verbal form without distinctions of voice, number, person, and tense—supinum, literally ‘inactive,’ hence neutral, absolute, translating Greek θετικόν as applied to the verbal form in -τέον, called ἐπίρρημα θετικόν, literally ‘the absolute adverb,’ or verbal adjunct (θετικόν, neuter of θετικός, in grammar positive, absolute); from sub, under, beneath: see sub-.
  2. from supine, adjective
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a year.

Recently looked up

Intimidating · presumptuousness · uninterruptible · Ares · well-articulated

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket · A fly and a flea flew into a flue · She sells seashells by the seashore