| English Dictionary |
SOBER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does sober mean?
• SOBER (adjective)
The adjective SOBER has 4 senses:
1. not affected by a chemical substance (especially alcohol)
2. dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises
3. lacking brightness or color; dull
4. completely lacking in playfulness
Familiarity information: SOBER used as an adjective is uncommon.
• SOBER (verb)
The verb SOBER has 3 senses:
1. cause to become sober
2. become more realistic
3. become sober after excessive alcohol consumption
Familiarity information: SOBER used as a verb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: soberest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not affected by a chemical substance (especially alcohol)
Similar:
cold sober; stone-sober (totally sober)
drug-free (characteristic of a person not taking illegal drugs or of a place where no illegal drugs are used)
dry; teetotal (practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages)
uninebriated; unintoxicated (not inebriated)
Antonym:
intoxicated (stupefied or excited by a chemical substance (especially alcohol))
Derivation:
soberness (the state of being sober and not intoxicated by alcohol)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises
Synonyms:
Context example:
the judge was solemn as he pronounced sentence
Similar:
serious (concerned with work or important matters rather than play or trivialities)
Derivation:
soberness (a manner that is serious and solemn)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lacking brightness or color; dull
Synonyms:
Context example:
children in somber brown clothes
Similar:
colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Completely lacking in playfulness
Synonyms:
Attribute:
fun; playfulness (a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement)
Derivation:
soberness (a manner that is serious and solemn)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it sobers Past simple: sobered
Past participle: sobered
-ing form: sobering
Sense 1
Meaning:
Cause to become sober
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Context example:
A sobering thought
Hypernyms (to "sober" is one way to...):
alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Sentence examples:
The bad news will sober him
The performance is likely to sober Sue
Sense 2
Meaning:
Become more realistic
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
sober; sober up
Context example:
After thinking about the potential consequences of his plan, he sobered up
Hypernyms (to "sober" is one way to...):
become; get; go (enter or assume a certain state or condition)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 3
Meaning:
Become sober after excessive alcohol consumption
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
sober; sober up
Context example:
Keep him in bed until he sobers up
Hypernyms (to "sober" is one way to...):
become; get; go (enter or assume a certain state or condition)
"Sober" entails doing...:
booze; drink; fuddle; hit the bottle (consume alcohol)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Context examples
It's becoming, and you look too sober in your plain suit.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
And on Monday morning, weary, he began the new week's work, but he had kept sober.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Then sober thought came to me.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
There was something so panther-like in the movement—something so unhuman, that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
He is not in a sober mood.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
She will grow sober by degrees.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
For all that, said another, I am confident that if Joe Berks had been sober he would have eaten him.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The forty are drunk, and the three are but indifferent sober.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Now, here's what I say: you'll berth forward, and you'll live hard, and you'll speak soft, and you'll keep sober till I give the word; and you may lay to that, my son.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"As long as there will remain two men on Earth, Jealousy will reign" (Breton proverb)
"What you cannot see during the day, you will not see at night." (West African proverb)
"Those who had some shame are dead." (Egyptian proverb)