2026

Sedate

//səˈdeɪt//

Definitions

adjmore sedate · sedater · most sedate · sedatest

1
Remaining composed and dignified, and avoiding too much activity or excitement.
[…] they will rashly huddle up all together, and not admitting the least check of a sedate judgement, publish onely the impetuous dictates of their indiscreet and too precipitant fancie […]
Similar
placid staid unruffled
2
Not overly ornate or showy.
Sometimes she passed down avenues of sedate mansions, soberly numbered ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’, and so on right up to two or three hundred, each the copy of the other, with two pillars and six steps and a pair of curtains neatly drawn […]
Similar
unobtrusive
Opposite
obtrusive

verbsedates · sedating · sedated

1
To calm or put (a person) to sleep using a sedative drug.
Though he may have been sedated, he knew I was there, knew who I was, knew I was talking to him.
Similar
tranquilize

Word Origin

The verb is first attested in 1646, the adjective in 1661; borrowed from Latin sēdātus, perfect passive participle of sēdō (“to settle”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suf...

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