Author: James Anderson

Sober Definition & Meaning

Gilding, soberly applied, shone here and there like eyes, brightening the brown color which prevailed in this nest of love. He looked about, half expecting to see a priest; his eye lit on a cavalier, soberly dressed, with his hood pulled over his head. The old ladies sat round as we examined these things, each eating soberly at her ledge and never looking round. Brooks arrived for her questioning dressed soberly in navy with a demure little heart-shaped charm dangling from a necklace. My informant is a veteran Republican from the West; he spoke soberly of the GOP frontrunner. They speak slowly and soberly, the pain evident in their voices, their faces etched with despair.

Examples of sobriety in a Sentence

Staid suggests a settled, accustomed sedateness and prim self-restraint. Solemn suggests an impressive gravity utterly free from levity. Grave implies both seriousness and dignity in expression or attitude. She’s well spoken, educated, and sober—a far cry from the one-time face of the adult world, Jenna Jameson. Today, however, the 36-year-old musician is sober—and even showers once in a while. They stamped and raked quite soberly for a moment, and then Isabel began to laugh again.

Find Similar Words

The meanings of grave and sober largely overlap; however, grave implies both seriousness and dignity in expression or attitude. The synonyms earnest and sober are sometimes interchangeable, but earnest suggests sincerity or often zealousness of purpose. She took her own path soberly home again, not across the marsh this time, but half the way by the high-road. This, looked soberly in the face,” Lincoln understated at the time, “is not very satisfactory. In some situations, the words serious and sober are roughly equivalent. Sober stresses seriousness of purpose and absence of levity or frivolity.

  1. They stamped and raked quite soberly for a moment, and then Isabel began to laugh again.
  2. They speak slowly and soberly, the pain evident in their voices, their faces etched with despair.
  3. She’s well spoken, educated, and sober—a far cry from the one-time face of the adult world, Jenna Jameson.
  4. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘sober.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
  5. Today, however, the 36-year-old musician is sober—and even showers once in a while.
  6. My informant is a veteran Republican from the West; he spoke soberly of the GOP frontrunner.

Related Words

So Israelis are approaching this soberly—but most laugh off reports of celebrations from Gaza.

Other Word Forms of Sober

Some common synonyms of sober are earnest, grave, sedate, serious, solemn, and staid. While all these words mean “not light or frivolous,” sober stresses seriousness of purpose and absence of levity or frivolity. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘sober.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. While the synonyms solemn and sober are close in meaning, solemn suggests an impressive gravity utterly free from levity. Although the words staid and sober have much in common, staid suggests a settled, accustomed sedateness and prim self-restraint.