sedate
Part of speech: adj
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: medicine
sciences
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sedate (“not painful or sore”), and directly from its etymon Latin sēdātus (“calm, quiet, composed”), participial adjective from sēdō (“to allay, appease, calm, settle; to end, stop”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”). Compare English -ate (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘characterized by [the thing specified]’).
The verb is partly derived from sēdāt-, a participial stem of sēdō (verb sense 2—“to make (someone or something) calm”; see above), and partly a back-formation from sedation (verb sense 1—“to give (a person) a sedative”) + English -ate (suffix forming verbs). It is first attested slightly later than the adjective.
Affixes: -ate
Inflected forms:
form: more sedate
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: sedater
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most sedate
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: sedatest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: sedates
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: sedating
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: sedated
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: sedated
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Of a person or animal, or their behaviour: calm and composed (often in a dignified manner), and avoiding or unaffected by activity or excitement.
pos: adj
examples: [I]f they vvill 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, either yielding nothing, or ſuffering a licentious practice of all things; vve muſt put them in mind of that State Maxime, vvhich is too often made good by the ruine of a Church, […] Dangerous is that ſeverity, impious that bounty, vvhere to a Chriſtian militant either all things are granted, or nothing permitted in the doubtfull and diſtracted condition of a Church.
But vvhen […] vvilfulneſs [in a child] evidently ſhevvs it ſelf, and makes Blovvs neceſſary, I think the Chaſtiſement ſhould be a little more Sedate and a little more Severe, […]
Virgil vvas of a quiet, ſedate Temper; Homer vvas violent, impetuous, and full of Fire.
But the Matter vvas yet infinitely vvorſe (I record it vvith Tears) vvhen he proceeded to the Embroidery: For, being Clumſy by Nature, and of Temper, Impatient; vvithal, beholding Millions of Stitches, that required the niceſt Hand, and ſedateſt Conſtitution, to extricate; in a great Rage, he tore off the vvhole Piece, Cloth and all, […]
But vvho like thee can boaſt a Soul sedate, / So firmly Proof to all the Shocks of Fate?
The animadverſions of critics are commonly ſuch as may eaſily provoke the ſedateſt vvriter to ſome quickneſs of reſentment and aſperity of reply.
He vvas about forty-eight—of a ſedate look, ſomething approaching to gravity.
Jane [Bennet] looked a little paler than usual, but more sedate than Elizabeth had expected. On the gentlemen's appearing, her colour increased; yet she received them with tolerable ease, and with a propriety of behaviour equally free from any symptom of resentment, or any unnecessary complaisance.
"How very peculiar. I never heard of such a thing before," he added a moment after, in a sedater tone.
Whosoever has observed that sedate and clerical bird, the rook, may perhaps have noticed that when he wings his way homeward towards nightfall, in a sedate and clerical company, two rooks will suddenly detach themselves from the rest, will retract their flight for some distance, and will there poise and linger; conveying to mere men the fancy that it is of some occult importance to the body politic, that this artful couple should pretend to have renounced connection with it.
A reel or fling of some sort was in progress; and the usually sedate Farfrae was in the midst of the other dancers in the costume of a wild Highlander, flinging himself about and spinning to the tune.
Then she saw that they were waving their handkerchiefs; dipping them up and down, with a curiously sedate, formal motion.
gloss: Of an object, particularly a building: not overly ornate or showy; not having a strong colour or design.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
examples: 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 […] until her mind was dizzied with the monotony.
The shiny carriages of Yankee officers' wives and newly rich Carpetbaggers splashed mud on the dilapidated buggies of the townspeople, and gaudy new homes of wealthy strangers crowded in among the sedate dwellings of older citizens.
Facing the Parliament Buildings across James’ Bay arose a sedate stone and cement Post Office.
The great hotel, with its look of sedate luxury, brooded massively there with people teeming about it.
gloss: Of writing: not emotional; calm, composed.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
gloss: Of one's mind, thoughts, etc.: calm, sober.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
obsolete
examples: [A] Scepticiſm, that's the only vvay to Science. But yet this is ſo difficult in the impartial and exact performance, that it may be vvell reckon'd among the bare Poſsibilities, vvhich never commence into a Futurity: It requiring ſuch a free, ſedate, and intent minde, as it may be no vvhere found but among the Platonical Idea's.
[W]e ſhall leave them to their ovvn ſedate and compoſed Reflections.
gloss: Of an object: not moving; at rest, quiet, still; also, moving smoothly and steadily.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
obsolete
examples: [T]he river vvhich before vvas ſtraight, ſhe [Nitocris] made crooked vvith great vvindings, that it might be more ſedate and leſs apt to overflovv.
gloss: To give (a person) a sedative to calm them or put them to sleep; to tranquilize.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Though he may have been sedated, he knew I was there, knew who I was, knew I was talking to him.
I need something to sedate me / But I can't afford the high / Give me something to help me escape
gloss: To make (someone or something) calm or tranquil; to assuage, to calm, to soothe.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Did matter contend with matter, what confusion would it produce? whilst the mind and soul of man sedate the hostility, and bring it to due obedience, as being a power abstracted, a distinct and immaterial principle.
Related words: sedation
sedative
Derived words: saditty
sedately
sedateness
unsedate
nonsedating
oversedate
resedate
sedated
sedating
Translations: