sober

from 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}]
    
from 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Not mad or insane; not wild, visionary, or heated with
      passion; exercising cool, dispassionate reason;
      self-controlled; self-possessed.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Not proceeding from, or attended with, passion; calm; as,
      sober judgment; a man in his sober senses.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Serious or subdued in demeanor, habit, appearance, or
      color; solemn; grave; sedate.
      [1913 Webster]

            What parts gay France from sober Spain? --Prior.
      [1913 Webster]

            See her sober over a sampler, or gay over a jointed
            baby.                                 --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

            Twilight gray
            Had in her sober livery all things clad. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Grave; temperate; abstinent; abstemious; moderate;
        regular; steady; calm; quiet; cool; collected;
        dispassionate; unimpassioned; sedate; staid; serious;
        solemn; somber. See {Grave}.
        [1913 Webster]
    
from 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]
    
from 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]
    
from 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

    

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