sedate

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sedate (“not painful or sore”),^[1] and directly from its etymon Latin sēdātus (“calm, quiet, composed”), participial adjective from sēdō (“to allay, appease, calm, settle; to end, stop”),^[2] 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),^[3] and partly a back-formation from sedation (verb sense 1—“to give (a person) a sedative”)^[4] + English -ate (suffix forming verbs). It is first attested slightly later than the adjective.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɪˈdeɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /səˈdeɪt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Hyphenation: sed‧ate

sedate (comparative more sedate or sedater, superlative most sedate or sedatest)

1. Of a person or animal, or their behaviour: calm and composed (often in a dignified manner), and avoiding or unaffected by activity or excitement.

   Synonyms: collected, cool, placid, staid, unruffled; see also Thesaurus:calm, Thesaurus:serious

   Antonym: unsedate

   • 1642, Ri[chard] Watson, A Sermon Touching Schisme, Lately Preached at St. Maries in Cambridge, [Cambridge, Cambridgeshire]: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie of Cambridge […]; [a]nd are to be sold by William Graves, […], →OCLC, page 27:

     [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.

   • 1693, [John Locke], “§162”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 100:

     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, […]

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Virgil vvas of a quiet, ſedate Temper; Homer vvas violent, impetuous, and full of Fire.

   • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section VI”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 131:

     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, […]

   • 1715, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book 3”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 5, lines 87-88:

     But vvho like thee can boaſt a Soul sedate, / So firmly Proof to all the Shocks of Fate?

   • 1751 December 4 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 176. Saturday, November 23. 1751.”, in The Rambler, volume VII, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1752, →OCLC, page 128:

     The animadverſions of critics are commonly ſuch as may eaſily provoke the ſedateſt vvriter to ſome quickneſs of reſentment and aſperity of reply.

   • 1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “Le Patisser Versailles”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume II, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, page 50:

     He vvas about forty-eight—of a ſedate look, ſomething approaching to gravity.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 201–202:

     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.

   • 1876, Florence Marryat, “‘Diamond Cut Diamond’”, in Her Father’s Name. […], volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 105:

     "How very peculiar. I never heard of such a thing before," he added a moment after, in a sedater tone.

   • 1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, “A Dean, and a Chapter also”, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC, page 3:

     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.

   • 1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter XVI, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 201:

     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.

   • 1989, Hilary Mantel, chapter 9, in Fludd (A Owl Book), New York: Henry Holt and Company, published 2000, →ISBN, page 149:

     Then she saw that they were waving their handkerchiefs; dipping them up and down, with a curiously sedate, formal motion.

2. (by extension)
   1. Of an object, particularly a building: not overly ornate or showy; not having a strong colour or design.

      Synonym: unobtrusive

      Antonym: obtrusive

      • 1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 6, in Orlando: A Biography, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 275:

        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.

      • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XXXVII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 657:

        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.

      • 1942, Emily Carr, “Grown Up”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC; republished as The Book of Small (eBook; 0400201.txt), [Australia]: Project Gutenberg Australia, February 2004:

        Facing the Parliament Buildings across James’ Bay arose a sedate stone and cement Post Office.

      • 1985, Doris Lessing, The Good Terrorist, London: Jonathan Cape […], →ISBN, page 352:

        The great hotel, with its look of sedate luxury, brooded massively there with people teeming about it.

   2. Of writing: not emotional; calm, composed.
   3. (obsolete)
      1. Of one's mind, thoughts, etc.: calm, sober. [from mid 17th c.]
         • 1661, Joseph Glanvill, “A Third Reason of Our Ignorance and Error, viz. the Impostures and Deceits of Our Senses. […]”, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 74:

           [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.

         • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “The Preface”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, page iv:

           [W]e ſhall leave them to their ovvn ſedate and compoſed Reflections.

      2. Of an object: not moving; at rest, quiet, still; also, moving smoothly and steadily.
         • a. 1728, Isaac Newton, “Of the Two Contemporary Empires of the Babylonians and Medes”, in The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], and J[ohn] Osborn and T[homas] Longman […], published 1728, →OCLC, pages 304–305:

           [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.

• saditty
• sedately
• sedateness
• unsedate

• sedation
• sedative

sedate (third-person singular simple present sedates, present participle sedating, simple past and past participle sedated) (transitive)

2. (medicine) To give (a person) a sedative to calm them or put them to sleep; to tranquilize.
   • 1986–1989 (date written), J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee, “Part II”, in Age of Iron, London: Martin Secker & Warburg, published September 1990, →OCLC, page 73:

     Though he may have been sedated, he knew I was there, knew who I was, knew I was talking to him.

   • 2012 January 25, “Smells Like a Freakshow”, in Black Waltz, performed by Avatar, Göteborg, Sweden: Gain Music Entertainment, →OCLC:

     I need something to sedate me / But I can't afford the high / Give me something to help me escape

4. (obsolete) To make (someone or something) calm or tranquil; to assuage, to calm, to soothe. [from mid 17th c.]

   Synonym: tranquilize

   • a. 1707 (date written), John Evelyn, “Whether there be a Deity and Supreme Being? That there is, […]”, in The History of Religion. A Rational Account of the True Religion. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1850, →OCLC, section III, part I (By the Soul of Man), page 53:

     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.

• nonsedating
• oversedate
• resedate
• sedated (adjective)
• sedating (adjective, noun)

• sedation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “sedate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “sedate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sedate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• e-dates, seated, steade, teades, teased

sedate

1. inflection of sedare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

sedate f pl

1. feminine plural of sedato

sēdāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of sēdō

• “sedate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sedate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “sedate”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

sedate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of sedar combined with te