Adjacent Words

Supine definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUPI'NE, a. [L. supinus.] Lying on the back, or with the face upward; opposed to prone.
1. Leaning backward; or inclining with exposure to the sun.
If the vine
On rising ground be plac'd on hills supine--
2. Negligent; heedless; indolent; thoughtless; inattentive.
He became pusillanimous and supine, and openly exposed to any temptation.
These men suffer by their supine credulity.
SU'PINE, n. [L. supinum.] In grammar, a word formed from a verb, or a modification of a verb.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: lying face upward [syn: supine, resupine]
2: offering no resistance; "resistless hostages"; "No other colony showed such supine, selfish helplessness in allowing her own border citizens to be mercilessly harried"- Theodore Roosevelt [syn: resistless, supine, unresisting]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English supyn, from Late Latin supinum, from Latin, neuter of supinus, adjective Date: 15th century 1. a Latin verbal noun having an accusative of purpose in -um and an ablative of specification in -u 2. an English infinitive with to II. adjective Etymology: Middle English suppyne, from Latin supinus; akin to Latin sub under, up to — more at up Date: 15th century 1. a. lying on the back or with the face upward b. marked by supination 2. exhibiting indolent or apathetic inertia or passivity; especially mentally or morally slack 3. archaic leaning or sloping backward Synonyms: see prone, inactive • supinely adverb • supineness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 lying face upwards (cf. PRONE). 2 having the front or ventral part upwards; (of the hand) with the palm upwards. 3 inert, indolent; morally or mentally inactive. --n. a Latin verbal noun used only in the accusative and ablative cases, esp. to denote purpose (e.g. mirabile dictu wonderful to relate). Derivatives: supinely adv. supineness n. Etymology: L supinus, rel. to super: (n.) f. LL supinum neut. (reason unkn.)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Supine Su*pine", a. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.] 1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. 2. Leaning backward, or inclining with exposure to the sun; sloping; inclined. If the vine On rising ground be placed, or hills supine. --Dryden. 3. Negligent; heedless; indolent; listless. He became pusillanimous and supine, and openly exposed to any temptation. --Woodward. Syn: Negligent; heedless; indolent; thoughtless; inattentive; listless; careless; drowsy. -- Su*pine"ly, adv. -- Su*pine"ness, n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Supine Su"pine, n. [L. supinum (sc. verbum), from supinus bent or thrown backward, perhaps so called because, although furnished with substantive case endings, it rests or falls back, as it were, on the verb: cf. F. supin.] (Lat. Gram.) A verbal noun; or (according to C.F.Becker), a case of the infinitive mood ending in -um and -u, that in -um being sometimes called the former supine, and that in -u the latter supine.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you are supine, you are lying flat on your back. (FORMAL) ...bedridden persons confined to the supine position. ADJ • Supine is also an adverb. I lay supine on the poolside grass. ADV: ADV after v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. On the back. 2. Indolent, sluggish, lazy, slothful, idle, inert, torpid, languid, dull, lumpish, listless, careless, thoughtless, inattentive, negligent, heedless, drowsy, indifferent, otiose, lethargic, apathetic, sleepy.

Moby Thesaurus

Laodicean, Olympian, abject, accepting, accumbent, acquiescent, agreeable, aloof, apathetic, assenting, benumbed, blah, blase, bored, comatose, complaisant, compliable, compliant, complying, consenting, couchant, couche, crawling, crouched, dead, debased, debilitated, decumbent, depressed, desensitized, detached, disinterested, dopey, dormant, draped, droopy, drugged, dull, enervated, exanimate, flat, groveling, heartless, heavy, hebetudinous, hopeless, idle, in a stupor, inactive, inanimate, indifferent, indolent, inert, insouciant, jaded, knee-high, knocked flat, lackadaisical, laid low, languid, languorous, lazy, leaden, lethargic, lifeless, listless, lolling, lounging, low, low-built, low-hung, low-level, low-leveled, low-lying, low-set, low-statured, lumpish, lying, lying down, moribund, motionless, neap, nonchalant, nondissenting, nonresistant, nonresisting, nonresistive, numb, numbed, obedient, passive, phlegmatic, pluckless, pooped, procumbent, prone, prostrate, reclining, recumbent, reposing, resigned, resupine, runty, sated, servile, short, slack, sleepy, slothful, slow, sluggish, somnolent, soporific, spiritless, sprawled, sprawling, spread, spunkless, squat, squatty, stagnant, stagnating, stoic, stooped, stultified, stumpy, stupefied, submissive, subservient, torpid, unassertive, uncaring, uncomplaining, unconcerned, unelevated, uninterested, unresistant, unresisting, vegetable, vegetative, wan, weary, withdrawn, world-weary