How to use sober in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, verb

Sober means not drunk; not intoxicated. Example: “His expression sobered.”

Examples of sober by meaning

adjectiveNot given to excessive drinking of alcohol.

After eliminating alcohol from their lives, some sober individuals exclusively date nondrinkers.2020 December 29, Hilary Sheinbaum, “Finding Love Without Alcohol”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2021

adjectiveModerate; realistic; serious; not playful; not passionate; cool; self-controlled.

Which is the finest and soberest state possible.2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 230d

verbTo make or become sober.

His expression sobered.
The night air may have sobered him a bit by the time they got back to Beattock.1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53

verbTo overcome or lose a state of intoxication.

It took him hours to sober up.

verbTo moderate one's feelings; to accept a disappointing reality after losing one's ability to believe in a fantastic goal.

Losing his job was a sobering experience.

More sentences with sober

While he was strung out, he ranted about conspiracies that he couldn't remember when he sobered.From the entry strung out
If you can't stay sober, you need a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous.From the entry support group
He has hardly drawn a sober breath since leaving the army.From the entry draw a sober breath
He made an example of the drunken sailor with twenty lashes, to show that he must have a sober crew.From the entry make an example of
A pot of black coffee ought to sober him up.From the entry sober up
When the irrational exuberance finally ended and the central bank took away the punch bowl, the business world belatedly sobered up.From the entry sober up
“Are you drunk?” “No, actually, weirdly enough, we're sober,” Bingley called up.2017, Melissa de la Cruz, Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 90. From the entry Kahlúa
I'm too sober to be drunk, too sober to be anything but in a funk.2014, i.P. audAx, Relapse and Rescuers. From the entry pondersome
Administering Narcan has nothing to do with getting an addict clean and sober.2012, Peter L. Beilenson, Patrick A. McGuire, Tapping into The Wire, JHU Press, →ISBN. From the entry Narcan
It wasn't until I sobered up and returned that I realized why I belong here.2012, Roger Lhooms, Dweller, page 593. From the entry dead pan
Apollonians and Dionysians are usually the same people: now sober and serene, now drunk and frenzied.2011, Yuri Slezkine, The Jewish Century, →ISBN, page 24. From the entry apollonian
Here was a sober young Harlemite in a gamely tilted bowler with a little French mustache.2011, Amor Towles, Rules of Civility. From the entry gamely
Don’t let yourself be milquetoastedly intimidated by sober equations, credentials, and prizes.2009, Pablo Triana, “An Unhealthy Yearning for Precision”, in Lecturing Birds on Flying: Can Mathematical Theories Destroy the Financial…. From the entry milquetoastedly
He'll be sober as a judge by the time we get to Taiwan.2007, Olin Thompson, SS Wolfhound. From the entry drinkypoo
In her very celebratoriness she practiced a kind of sober love for community.2005, Elizabeth Alexander, “Introduction”, in The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks (American Poets Project; 19), New York, N.Y.: The Library of…. From the entry celebratoriness
How rich are sober and L-sober spaces, are there important examples?2003, A. Pultr, S. E. Rodabaugh, “Chapter 6: Lattice-Valued Frames, Functor Categories, And Classes of Sober Spaces”, in Stephen Ernest…. From the entry sober space
On the contrary: its approach was so sober as to recall the days of dress-suited newsreaders.2000 July 21, James Walton, “Fibs and whoppers galore”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 45,131, page 46. From the entry dress-suited
Tejada quickly sobered them: "How much a cow weigh after Mickey D be through with him?1997, Tony Chiu, Positive Match, page 110. From the entry Mickey D
Thanks to Kim, her husband is also living a sober, productive life.1987, Engage/Social Action, volume 15, page 33. From the entry bottom-line
Sober citizens were becoming persuaded that a panicless, depressionless era had begun.1935, Frederick Lewis Allen, The Lords of Creation. From the entry panicless
Mr Lackersteen was even wearing a dinner-jacket—white, because of the season—and was completely sober.1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 17”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers…. From the entry dinner jacket
Particular professors and sober Scotchmen may denounce as childish the desire for imaginative fiction.1914 March 7, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, All-Story Weekly, Letters. From the entry imaginative fiction
“I’ll wait until I’m sober, I prommy.”2025, Alex Crespo, chapter 21, in A Feast for the Eyes, Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree Teen, →ISBN. From the entry prommy
In that moment we can see our own country in their image: a country that is sober, benign and loaded.2023 May 8, Nesrine Malik, “The coronation pulled a screen across a desperate, failing nation – just as intended”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry loaded
There was no alcohol in the house now; Arthur had made sure of that in an effort to get Mary sober.2021, Glenda Young, The Miner's Lass. From the entry spike
Macaulay Culkin clean and sober is a good thing.2013 January 13, Jeanne Adams, “Macaulay Culkin Clean And Sober Looking For Once, Trying To Win Mila Kunis Back?”, in Celebrity Dirty…. From the entry walk in straight lines
You want to sober up, and talk without so much vinous crapulent goldbricking flummoxery?” The man's face fell.2012, John C. Wright, The Hermetic Millennia, →ISBN, page 270. From the entry flummoxery
We must first note that Hindus themselves were sober in their assessment of Trimurti, which was never a universally accepted doctrine.2011, Francis X. Clooney, “Trinity and Hinduism”, in Peter C. Phan, editor, The Cambridge Companion to the Trinity, Cambridge University…. From the entry Trimurti
This sober and unflinching analysis should be read and reckoned with by anyone concerned with practicable change in the long-suffering region.2010 September 13, Publishers Weekly, Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians. From the entry practicable
Staying cold sober while the rest of them blissed up?2008, Robin Wasserman, Skinned. From the entry blissed up
But he was still sober enough to navigate.2008, Peter Innes, The Man with the Grasshopper Mind, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 37. From the entry drunker than a skunker
Finally, with a little help from Starbies, we sobered up.2007, Dee Davis, A Match Made on Madison, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Griffin, →ISBN, page 259. From the entry Starbies
I'm telling you to.be sober for a while.2003, Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl. From the entry puissantness
So there are many non-Hausdorff sober spaces as well.2003, A. Pultr, S. E. Rodabaugh, “Chapter 6: Lattice-Valued Frames, Functor Categories, And Classes of Sober Spaces”, in Stephen Ernest…. From the entry sober space

Meaning of sober

adjective Not drunk; not intoxicated.
adjective Not under the influence of any recreational drug.
adjective Not given to excessive drinking of alcohol.

Full definition of sober

Questions about sober in a sentence

How do you use sober in a sentence?: Sober is used as an adjective and verb. For example: “His expression sobered.”
What is a short sentence with sober?: “His expression sobered.”
What does sober mean?: Sober means not drunk; not intoxicated.

Adapted from Wiktionary: sober (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use sober in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sober. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.