What's the difference between sober and sombre?

Sober


Definition:

  • (superl.) Temperate in the use of spirituous liquors; habitually temperate; as, a sober man.
  • (superl.) Not intoxicated or excited by spirituous liquors; as, the sot may at times be sober.
  • (superl.) Not mad or insane; not wild, visionary, or heated with passion; exercising cool, dispassionate reason; self-controlled; self-possessed.
  • (superl.) Not proceeding from, or attended with, passion; calm; as, sober judgment; a man in his sober senses.
  • (superl.) Serious or subdued in demeanor, habit, appearance, or color; solemn; grave; sedate.
  • (v. t.) To make sober.
  • (v. i.) To become sober; -- often with down.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It's typically sober and elegant, and Cotillard excels in a nervy, vulnerable role.
  • (2) Read Rachel’s full story Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chris Owen: ‘I’ve been sober for six years now, and I don’t miss alcohol.’ Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian I spent my 20s playing Russian roulette with alcohol The NHS has been there time and time again for Chris Owen, who battled alcoholism throughout his 20s.
  • (3) Anthony Wells, director of YouGov’s political and social research team, said: “While there will be speculation about whether this movement is connected to the tragic death of Jo Cox, we do not think that it is... We are now in the final week of the referendum campaign and the swing back towards the status quo appears to be in full force.” EU referendum voters unconvinced by scare tactics: ‘I just want to do what’s right’ Read more Today, both sides will resume their battle to capture the votes of the undecided and to persuade people to switch sides, though both the Leave and Remain camps say that the manner of their campaigning will be more sober and less combative.
  • (4) Previous research has found a relationship between increased quantity of alcohol usually consumed per drinking occasion and decreased sober cognitive performance.
  • (5) "Yet the sobering fact remains that a transition to a low-carbon, inclusive green economy is happening far too slowly and the opportunity for meeting the 44 gigatonne target is narrowing annually," Steiner said.
  • (6) The haemostatic imbalance normalizes within two or three weeks of soberness while the immune system requires about two months to recover.
  • (7) Chambers claims she became extremely intoxicated while her ex-boyfriend remained much more sober, and says she has no memory of him having sex with her that night.
  • (8) Therefore, the presence of pulmonary emboli in association with sagittal sinus thrombosis mandates a sober assessment of the need of anticoagulation therapy in the absence of obvious contraindication.
  • (9) Mutual intoxication was a feature in 44% of the cases and in 34% both participants were sober.
  • (10) Impulsive and bonhomous, Saakashvili, meanwhile, is clearly the temperamental opposite of Putin, the sober and clinical former KGB colonel.
  • (11) Barton rubs Old Firm up the wrong way Joey Barton apologises ‘unreservedly’ after being sent home by Rangers Read more The phrase “Joey Barton Twitter storm” is pretty much a tautology, so it was no surprise that his decision to sign for Rangers in May had social media in a kerfuffle when his 2012 tweet – “I am a Celtic fan” – was dredged up so that it might be subject to calm and sober scrutiny from all concerned.
  • (12) And yet here I am today, a sober, emancipated, successful and happy woman.
  • (13) After all, on any sober calculation of relative sins, HSBC's dealings with Mexican drug bandits were surely several leagues more serious than other banks' Libor-rigging scandals.
  • (14) In the swinging 1960s, Peck's sober style seemed a little out of place, though he appeared in a couple of flashy Hitchcockian thrillers, Mirage (1965) and Arabesque (1966), and adapted to the new Hollywood as best he could, looking rather bothered as the father of a demon in The Omen (1976).
  • (15) Alcoholics reported more anger and aggression when drinking than when sober and this effect was greatest among individuals with a history of childhood aggression.
  • (16) She observed soberly that "the moment human beings lacked their own government and had to fall back upon their minimum rights, no authority was left to protect them and no institution was willing to guarantee them … Loss of national rights was identical with loss of human rights … The rights of man, supposedly inalienable, proved to be unenforceable … whenever people appeared who were no longer citizens of any sovereign state."
  • (17) It's not the most groundbreaking piece of research, but I did find it both instructive and sobering.
  • (18) In a year that will be punctuated by sober reflection and a series of commemorative occasions, it is tempting to assume a certain inevitability to events, especially when looking at them through the prism of hindsight.
  • (19) Even in alcoholics who have been sober for a long time, increased cardiac output is very common and these changes are similar to those seen in some patients with labile hypertension.
  • (20) He was a vegan, sober, nonsexual God-botherer partying in the blood-soaked Meatpacking District with the sex-and-druggers.

Sombre


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make somber, or dark; to make shady.
  • (a.) Dull; dusky; somewhat dark; gloomy; as, a somber forest; a somber house.
  • (a.) Melancholy; sad; grave; depressing; as, a somber person; somber reflections.
  • (n.) Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Photograph: KHIZR KHAN This sombre, serene oasis overlooking the Potomac river might also prove the graveyard of Donald Trump’s ambitions for the US presidency.
  • (2) Seethetree Kingley Vale, Sussex Forget the colours of autumn; this place is sombre in colour and atmosphere but you will be walking among probably the oldest living organisms in Britain.
  • (3) Slowing growth, financial fragility, governments teetering on the brink of insolvency and default, and clear signs of a public backlash against the excesses of the rich and powerful: all have created a sombre backdrop to the invitation-only affair.
  • (4) King gave a sombre assessment of the government's challenge at a press conference to launch the Bank's quarterly inflation report.
  • (5) Top floor: a roomful of sombre youths vying for individual supremacy using some form of networked arcade strategy game that uses collectible cards.
  • (6) In sombre tones he did indeed acknowledge that there are no sunny uplands as we "now face a crisis that is the economic equivalent of war" .
  • (7) In March 1990, in a ceremony in the new Congress building built by Pinochet in his home town of Valparaiso - 80 miles from the capital, Santiago, and intended to remain well out of mind of the real centres of power - a sombre Pinochet handed the presidential sash over to Aylwin.
  • (8) Q has upped his gadget game Facebook Twitter Pinterest The brooding and sombre Skyfall scored a few points for post-modern playfulness via its introductory scene for the new Q, in which Ben Whishaw might as well have offered Bond a couple of Netflix vouchers and a year’s subscription to Cosmopolitan for all the wow factor his proffered “gadgets” achieved.
  • (9) Another report, Sir Derek Wanless's Securing Good Health for the Whole Population (2004), set out the sombre consequences of our slobby habits: life expectancy cut by nine years, increased coronary heart disease and diabetes, and a cost of £8.2bn to the economy.
  • (10) She’s very serious in her style, very well-informed in her style, it won’t be the same as David Cameron,” he said, welcoming the idea of a more sombre tone.
  • (11) In a sombre closing speech, Clegg warned of "a long hard road ahead", and said the economy was "our biggest concern" because "the recovery is fragile".
  • (12) A grand and sombre staircase - dark, looming, pitiless - leads up from the Axes to the exhibits, allowing Libeskind to play one last trick on the visitor by luring him up a final flight that goes nowhere, before his voice gives way to the memoranda of Jewish history.
  • (13) It is now recognized that as much as left ventricular dysfunction these ventricular arrhythmias are of sombre prognosis.
  • (14) South Africans have undergone sombre introspection of late with the economy slowing, unemployment sky highand, worst of all, violent unrest that included the killing of workers at the Lonmin platinum mine in August.
  • (15) Helen Hunt and John Hawkes are deservedly recognised for their fine performances in The Sessions, while Kathryn Bigelow 's sombre, gripping Zero Dark Thirty bags a quartet of nominations, burnishing its credentials as the dark horse of this year's Oscar race.
  • (16) There were reports this morning that Gaga was reluctant to perform after the death of Alexander McQueen last week and had told organisers she would only play a set that was suitably sombre (with images of McQueen projected as a backdrop apparently).
  • (17) In a sombre letter to his youngest child, Mohamed wrote: "Sorry because you were born where free people are behind bars, including your father."
  • (18) Although they may draw images of sombre and disciplined technicians in white coats, labs in the modern industrial context are a nebulous idea.
  • (19) Although relatively rare, stenosis must be diagnosed in view of its sombre spontaneous prognosis (one patient died 3 days after coronary arteriography), of the risk of underestimating its frequency, and of the hazards of selective coronary catheterization in such patients (one of our patients died 15 minutes after coronary exploration).
  • (20) In a sombre ceremony, the eight men were remembered and honoured by name as families and relatives paid their last respects.