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sobriety

UK/səˈbɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/US/səˈbɹaɪ.ə.ti/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,797 of 15,258neutral

Sobriety is the state of living free of alcohol or drugs. Maintain sobriety, years of sobriety, a sobriety test.

In recovery it means the ongoing state rather than a single day, which is why people count it in years. The older and broader sense is seriousness of manner, as in the sobriety of the occasion. A roadside sobriety test measures the immediate state.

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Natasha Stannard · Public domain

Definitions of sobriety

  1. 1nounsobrietyThe state of living free of alcohol or drugs.B2+

    “After years of drinking heavily, he celebrated his first year of sobriety.”

sobriety is a state.

Where it comes from

Latin sobrietas comes from sobrius, sober, apparently from se-, without, plus ebrius, drunk.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *h₁egʷʰ-

  2. Latin

    sobrietas

  3. Old French

    sobriete

  4. English, today

    sobriety

From Old French sobriete, from Latin sobrietas.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Mental Health & Wellbeing

Practise this word

sobriety in the wild

  • "In defining sobriety, we do not speak for those outside Sexaholics Anonymous.

    Sexaholics Anonymous

  • Thus, for the married sexaholic, sexual sobriety means having no form of sex with self or with persons other than the spouse.

    Sexaholics Anonymous

  • A person in a state of sobriety is considered sober.

    Sobriety

  • Organizations of the temperance movement have encouraged sobriety as being normative in society.

    Sobriety

  • The program stressed the need to place the highest priority on sobriety and used mutual support to assist members in achieving this goal.

    Secular Organizations for Sobriety

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.