supine

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Erect or supine, these colossal statues were strewn all over the island.

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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.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

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

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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
 

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This word has been looked up 183 times.

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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
 

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