sedate

adjective

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L314853 on Wikidata ↗

verb

to calm or put (a person) to sleep using a sedative drug

L314854 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /sɪˈdeɪt/ / /səˈdeɪt/

adj

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.

Of a person or animal, or their behaviour: calm and composed (often in a dignified manner), and avoiding or unaffected by activity or excitement.
“[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, […]”
Of an object, particularly a building: not overly ornate or showy; not having a strong colour or design.
“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.”
Of writing: not emotional; calm, composed.
Of one's mind, thoughts, etc.: calm, sober.
“[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.”
Of an object: not moving; at rest, quiet, still; also, moving smoothly and steadily.
“[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.”

verb

To give (a person) a sedative to calm them or put them to sleep; to tranquilize.
“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”
To make (someone or something) calm or tranquil; to assuage, to calm, to soothe.
“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.”