From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsoberso‧ber1 /ˈsəʊbə $ ˈsoʊbər/ ●○○ adjective 1 DRUNKnot drunk He’s a nice guy when he’s sober.2 SERIOUS PERSONserious, and thinking or making you think carefully about things a sober hard-working young man a sober reminder of the difficulties we face3 SIMPLE/PLAINplain and not at all brightly coloured a sober grey suit —soberly adverb
Examples from the Corpus
sober• This fact is the basis for the one-drink-an-hour rule of thumb for remaining sober.• I'll drive you home - I think I'm the only one here that's sober.• I don't think I've ever seen Bill sober.• I hadn't been sober and I'd quite fancied my chances with one of the birds.• Recently his tone has become more sober and philosophical.• I went to see Professor Dandavate, a sober and respected academic.• Now, seeing the sober blue gleam from the Police Station she went in.• He had not retired to bed sober, but then he rarely, if ever, did.• a sober gray suit• They'd gone from legless to stone cold sober in nothing flat.• a sober-looking man in a grey suit• He's a sober, thoughtful, intelligent guy.• Hallucinations and dreams are to be discriminated from sober waking experience.• Was Garcia sober when he drove off?sobersober2 (also sober down) verb [intransitive, transitive] SERIOUS/NOT JOKINGto become more serious in behaviour or attitude, or to make someone become more serious His expression sobered instantly. → sober up→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
sober• Even the hardest of the men there was sobered by her outburst.• There was a long silence, both of them sobered by the knowledge that casualties were likely.• But they sobered up, became responsible, democratic adults.Origin sober1 (1300-1400) Old French sobre, from Latin sobrius 