sedate
Americanadjective
verb (used with object)
adjective
-
habitually calm and composed in manner; serene
-
staid, sober, or decorous
verb
Related Words
See staid.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sedate
First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin sēdātus (past participle of sēdāre “to allay, quieten”); akin to sedēre “to sit”; see sit 1
Explanation
Sedate means to be calm, but if a doctor sedates you it means you've been administered a tranquilizing drug. Most surgeries require some form of sedation, but to be sedate in day-to-day life means composed, quiet, and serene. Not necessarily unconscious. To be sedate when dining with the Queen means that you behaved with dignity and solemnity. To be sedated when dining with the Queen means that you were face down in the bread pudding and drooling onto the tablecloth. The medical sense of the word is to be tranquilized, either to calm your nerves after a shock or in preparation for surgery. Socially, to be sedate is to be serene, quiet, and composed.
Vocabulary lists containing sedate
A Separate Peace
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Mellow Out: Synonyms for "Calm"
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National Nurses Week: Tasks and Equipment
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By the 1870s his work—often passively comfortable with the standard paysage, or horizontal format, and entranced by distant spectacles like sunsets or mountaintops—began to seem sedate to serious viewers.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
Doctors were forced to sedate him and operate on him.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
Nursing homes have a powerful incentive to sedate residents, and comparatively few people are watching.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026
Distinguished by different hairdos and contrasting body language, Douglas, who can will himself to appear sedate, and James, who’s in a continual manic spiral, have more in common than either would care to admit.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2026
It was both bohemian and conventional, lively and sedate.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
