[syn: unplayful, serious, sober]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sober \Sober\, a. [Compar. Soberer; superl. Soberest.] [OE.
sobre, F. sobre, from L. sobrius, probably from a prefix so-
expressing separation + ebrius drunken. Cf. Ebriety.]
1. Temperate in the use of spirituous liquors; habitually
temperate; as, a sober man.
[1913 Webster]
That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and
sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name. --Bk. of
Com. Prayer.
[1913 Webster]
2. Not intoxicated or excited by spirituous liquors; as, the
sot may at times be sober.
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3. Not mad or insane; not wild, visionary, or heated with
passion; exercising cool, dispassionate reason;
self-controlled; self-possessed.
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There was not a sober person to be had; all was
tempestuous and blustering. --Druden.
[1913 Webster]
No sober man would put himself into danger for the
applause of escaping without breaking his neck.
--Dryden.
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4. Not proceeding from, or attended with, passion; calm; as,
sober judgment; a man in his sober senses.
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5. Serious or subdued in demeanor, habit, appearance, or
color; solemn; grave; sedate.
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What parts gay France from sober Spain? --Prior.
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See her sober over a sampler, or gay over a jointed
baby. --Pope.
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Twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things clad. --Milton.
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Syn: Grave; temperate; abstinent; abstemious; moderate;
regular; steady; calm; quiet; cool; collected;
dispassionate; unimpassioned; sedate; staid; serious;
solemn; somber. See Grave.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sober \So"ber\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sobered; p. pr. & vb. n.
Sobering.]
To make sober.
[1913 Webster]
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sober \So"ber\, v. i.
To become sober; -- often with down.
[1913 Webster]
Vance gradually sobered down. --Ld. Lytton.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sober
adj 1: not affected by a chemical substance (especially alcohol)
[ant: drunk, inebriated, intoxicated]
2: dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to
keeping promises; "a grave God-fearing man"; "a quiet sedate
nature"; "as sober as a judge"; "a solemn promise"; "the
judge was solemn as he pronounced sentence" [syn: grave,
sedate, sober, solemn]
3: lacking brightness or color; dull; "drab faded curtains";
"sober Puritan grey"; "children in somber brown clothes"
[syn: drab, sober, somber, sombre]
4: completely lacking in playfulness [syn: unplayful,
serious, sober] [ant: playful]
v 1: cause to become sober; "A sobering thought"
2: become more realistic; "After thinking about the potential
consequences of his plan, he sobered up" [syn: sober up,
sober]
3: become sober after excessive alcohol consumption; "Keep him
in bed until he sobers up" [syn: sober up, sober]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
298 Moby Thesaurus words for "sober":
Quaker-colored, Spartan, abstaining, abstentious, abstinent, acier,
aristocratic, ascetic, ashen, ashy, august, austere, awe-inspiring,
balanced, bald, bare, blackish, bland, calm, candid, canescent,
cinereous, cinerous, cogitative, cognitive, cold sober, collected,
colorless, common, commonplace, commonsense, composed,
concentrating, concentrative, conceptive, conceptual,
conceptualized, constrained, contemplating, contemplative,
continent, controlled, cool, coolheaded, courtly, creamy, dapple,
dapple-gray, dappled, dappled-gray, dark, dark-colored, darkish,
darksome, decorous, deliberating, deliberative, delicate, demure,
detoxify, dignified, dingy, direct, disciplined, dismal,
dispassionate, dove-colored, dove-gray, down-to-earth, drab,
dreary, dry, dull, dusk, dusky, dusty, earnest, eggshell,
eschewing, excogitating, fatal, fateful, flat, forbearing,
forgoing, formal, formidable, frank, frowning, frugal, funereal,
gentle, glaucescent, glaucous, gloss, grand, grave, gray,
gray-black, gray-brown, gray-colored, gray-drab, gray-green,
gray-spotted, gray-toned, gray-white, grayed, grayish, grim,
grim-faced, grim-visaged, griseous, grizzle, grizzled, grizzly,
hard, hard-boiled, hardheaded, heavy, homely, homespun, ideative,
imperturbable, imposing, inhibited, introspective, iridescent,
iron-gray, judicious, kingly, lead-gray, leaden, lean,
level-headed, levelheaded, light, livid, logical, long-faced,
lordly, low-key, magisterial, majestic, matter-of-fact, measured,
meditating, meditative, mellow, mental, mild, mild as milk,
moderate, mother-of-pearl, mouse-colored, mouse-gray, mousy,
museful, musing, nacreous, natural, neat, neutral, nigrescent,
no-nonsense, noble, noetic, nonviolent, opalescent, open,
pacifistic, pale, pastel, patinaed, peaceable, peaceful, pearl,
pearl-gray, pearly, pensive, philosophical, placid, plain,
plain-speaking, plain-spoken, pondering, portentous, practical,
pragmatic, prehensive, princely, proper, prosaic, prosing, prosy,
prudent, pure, queenly, quiet, rational, realistic, reasonable,
recover, reflecting, reflective, refraining, regal, repressed,
reserved, restrained, royal, ruminant, ruminating, ruminative,
rustic, sad, sane, sedate, self-controlled, self-disciplined,
self-possessed, semigloss, sensible, serene, serious, severe,
silver, silver-gray, silvered, silvery, simple, simple-speaking,
slate-colored, slaty, smoke-gray, smoky, sober-minded, sobersided,
soft, soft-colored, soft-hued, softened, solemn, somber, sombrous,
sound, spare, sparing, speculative, staid, stark, stately,
statuesque, steady, steel-gray, steely, stinting, stone-colored,
stone-faced, straight-faced, straightforward, subdued, subtle,
swart, swarthy, sweet, tame, taupe, teetotal, temperate, tender,
thinking, thought, thoughtful, together, tranquil, unadorned,
unaffected, undrunk, undrunken, unexcited, unflustered,
unidealistic, unimaginative, unimpassioned, uninebriate,
uninebrious, unintoxicated, unperturbed, unpoetical, unruffled,
unsmiling, untipsy, unvarnished, venerable, weighty, well-balanced,
wistful, worthy