so·ber

(sō′bər)

adj. so·ber·er, so·ber·est

1. Not intoxicated or affected by the use of alcohol or drugs.

2. Abstaining from or habitually abstemious in the use of alcoholic drink or other intoxicants: a former addict who has been sober for 10 years.

3. Straightforward and serious; not exaggerated, emotional, or silly: gave a sober assessment of the situation.

4. Serious or staid in character or conduct: Sober people refrained from making a judgment until all the facts came out. See Synonyms at serious.

5. Plain or subdued, as in decoration: sober attire.

tr. & intr.v. so·bered, so·ber·ing, so·bers

To make or become sober: "He could not be dissuaded and set off again on his foolish way while we headed north, saddened and sobered by his recklessness, and by the waste of his hours" (Rick Bass).

Phrasal Verb:

sober up

1. To make or become free from intoxication: sobered herself up after the party; tried to sober up with coffee.

2. To make or become free from habitual intoxication: He has been trying to sober up for years.

[Middle English sobre, temperate, not inebriated, from Old French, from Latin sōbrius; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]

so′ber·ly adv.

so′ber·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	soberness - the state of being sober and not intoxicated by alcohol sobriety temporary state - a state that continues for a limited time drunkenness, inebriety, insobriety, tipsiness, intoxication, inebriation - a temporary state resulting from excessive consumption of alcohol
	2.	soberness - a manner that is serious and solemn graveness, gravity, sobriety, somberness, sombreness serious-mindedness, earnestness, seriousness, sincerity - the trait of being serious; "a lack of solemnity is not necessarily a lack of seriousness"- Robert Rice stodginess, stuffiness - dull and pompous gravity

soberness

noun

The practice of refraining from use of alcoholic liquors:

abstinence, dryness, sobriety, teetotalism, temperance.

Translations

رَزانَه، تَعَقُّل، إنْضِباط النَّفْس

střízlivost

soberhed

Nüchternheit

sobriété

òaî aî vera algáîur

edruelighet nøkternhet

трезвость

triezvosť

ayıklık

清醒

sober

(ˈsəubə) adjective

1. not drunk. He was still sober when he left.

2. serious in mind. a sober mood.

3. (of colour) not bright. She wore a sober (grey) dress.

4. moderate; not overdone or too emotional. His account of the accident was factual and sober.

ˈsobering adjective

a sobering experience/thought.

ˈsoberly adverb

ˈsoberness noun

the quality which a thing, person etc has when sober. soberness of mind.

sober up

to make or become (more) sober.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Yates had staid to see the destruction of every theatrical preparation at Mansfield, the removal of everything appertaining to the play: he left the house in all the soberness of its general character; and Sir Thomas hoped, in seeing him out of it, to be rid of the worst object connected with the scheme, and the last that must be inevitably reminding him of its existence.

View in context

It was, indeed, quite true that the household had not been shining examples either of temperance, soberness, or chastity.

View in context

It wouldn't be half bad," said Mary, with a soberness which impressed Ralph very much.

View in context

He had so often gone over in his mind the possibility of explaining everything without aggravating appearances that would tell, perhaps unfairly, against Bulstrode, and had so often decided against it--he had so often said to himself that his assertions would not change people's impressions-- that Dorothea's words sounded like a temptation to do something which in his soberness he had pronounced to be unreasonable.

View in context

All of them faced the things of life seriously, and their opinions seemed to reflect a double tinge of soberness, on the one hand, from the twilight hues of well-nigh forgotten joys that could never more be revived for them; and, on the other, from the gray dawn which gave promise of a glorious day.

View in context

de Bellegarde evidently appreciated the comical element in the question, but he looked at Newman a moment with extreme soberness. "I am a very good Catholic.

View in context

Our appearance, the soberness of our gait made us conspicuous.

View in context

These perplexities checking his elation imparted to his tone a soberness well in keeping with the circumstances.

View in context

But when he entered Razumov's room late in the evening it was with an unaccustomed soberness of manner, almost solemnly.

View in context

" Locsin appeared to have taken the cue from his principal, President Duterte, in a moment of rare soberness. Asked by reporters if he would allow UNHRC representatives to investigate in the Philippines, Duterte inconclusively replied, "Let them state their purpose and I will" Recall that after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, in 2017, persisted on conducting a preliminary examination on the drug-related EJKs, Duterte ordered the country's withdrawal from the ICC.

UN human rights body presses Phl gov't on EJKs

He would come and rather than show soberness, he would pounce on me again and beat me blue and black in their presence.

He Disflowered Me At 22, Rather Than Dot On Me, He Went Out With Other Women -Wife

This can be seen toward the end of the lecture, when the original version declares science "absolutely laughable": "The sobriety of science, which gives up on the Nothing, thus becomes absolutely laughable, speaking metaphysically." (36) In contrast, the published version drops the adverb and tones down the rhetoric: "The presumed soberness of mind and superiority of science become laughable when it does not take the nothing seriously." (37)

SCIENCE, THINKING, AND THE NOTHING AS SUCH: ON THE NEWLY DISCOVERED ORIGINAL VERSION OF HEIDEGGER'S "WHAT IS METAPHYSICS?"