- sober
- sober 1 Sober, temperate, continent, unimpassioned can mean having or manifesting self-control or the mastery of one's emotions, passions, or appetites.Sober basically describes moderation in the use of food and drink and often specifically implies freedom from intoxication; this implication is often found with another (as of habitual abstinence from intoxicating liquors or merely of not being drunk at the time in question){
he is, by reputation, a sober man
}{Gilda, in a drink coma, squealed on Cabot Wright. Later, sober, she denied her own story— Purdy
}In more general application sober implies a cool head, composure especially under strain or excitement, and freedom from passion, prejudice, fear, or any unreasonable excess{sound, sober advice
}{a man of sober judgment
}{his bearing was sober, his comments courteous— Wouk
}{a sober book, written without hysteria or excitement—/!. T. Steele
}Temperate (see also MODERATE 1) implies control over the expression of one's feelings, passions, appetites, or desires or the restrained exercise of one's rights, powers, or privileges, with the result that one never exceeds the bounds of what is right or proper{in what temperate language Horace clothes his maxims . . . not a flourish! Not a gesture!— Repplier
}{he was a scholar and a stoic; what temperate virtues he owned had been hard won— Styron
}Continent (compare continence under TEMPERANCE) carries a stronger implication of deliberate restraint placed upon oneself, upon one's feelings seeking expression, or upon one's desires, especially sexual desires, seeking satisfaction{my past life hath been as continent, as chaste, as true, as I am now unhappy— Shak.
}{their strength was the strength of men geographically beyond temptation: the poverty of Arabia made them simple, continent, enduring— T. E. Lawrence
}{not ... a subject of irregular and interrupted impulses of virtue, but a continent, persisting, immovable person— Emerson
}Unimpassioned so stresses the absence of heat, ardor, or fervor that it often connotes lack of feeling and, therefore, coldness, stiffness, or hardness of heart{when love is not involved in a union, any differences are likely to settle into . . . unimpassioned enmity— Hervey
}{he was tired, excited, on fire, and Deborah seemed so unimpassioned— Webb
}but it often implies a subduing of feeling or passion by rationality{the unimpassioned administration of disciplinary measures
}{his manner resembled their manner, reserved, logical, unimpassioned, and intelligent—W. C. Ford
}Analogous words: abstaining, refraining, forbearing (see REFRAIN): forgoing, eschewing, abnegating (see FORGO): *cool, collected, composed: reasonable, *rationalAntonyms: drunk: excited2 grave, *serious, sedate, staid, solemn, somber, earnestAnalogous words: *decorous, decent, proper: *calm, placid, tranquil, serene: dispassionate, impartial, *fair, equitableAntonyms: gayContrasted words: light, frivolous, flippant, light-minded (see corresponding nouns at LIGHTNESS)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.