释义 |
Definition of supine in English: supineadjective ˈs(j)uːpʌɪnˈsuˌpaɪn 1(of a person) lying face upwards. Contrasted with prone (sense 2) Example sentencesExamples - In his supine position, his gender was obvious.
- You captured the audience's attention on at least two occasions - while lying supine on the floor, plucking the cello that lay horizontally on top of you, and while playing Bach as you dangled from a balcony.
- Below each of the two buildings lies a supine male figure, with feet at left and head at right.
- A supine figure lay motionless under a stack of blankets.
- From my point of view, it seems I'm lying supine on some sort of a bench or table.
- Characters speak in unison, repeat phrases obsessively, deliver lines supine on the floor, break up sentences illogically, or mumble sotto voce.
- The sounds of a television, which seems tuned to a crime movie, play across an obstructed vision of a rumpled bed, a supine leg and a discarded handgun.
- A supine man is roughly dragged off like a carcass.
- Eventually I found myself lying supine on top of one of those dilapidated benches between the lockers, pretending to sleep.
- I lie, sweaty and supine, upon the damp bedclothes.
Synonyms flat on one's back, prone, recumbent, prostrate, stretched out, spreadeagled lying, sprawling, horizontal, flat as a pancake - 1.1technical Having the front or ventral part upwards.
- 1.2 (of the hand) with the palm upwards.
2Failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence. the government was supine in the face of racial injustice Example sentencesExamples - The same spirit of unimaginative incompetence and weak compromise and supine drift will paralyse trade and business and prevent either financial reorganisation or economic resurgence.
- But when it came to ‘policing ‘the franchises, the Arts Council proved utterly supine.’
- Share prices then start to rise again, until such time that the market becomes so overvalued that our supine friends emerge once again from their hibernation.
Synonyms weak, spineless, yielding, enervated, effete docile, acquiescent, pliant, submissive, servile, inactive, passive, inert, spiritless, apathetic, indifferent
noun ˈs(j)uːpʌɪnˈsuˌpaɪn Grammar A Latin verbal noun used only in the accusative and ablative cases, especially to denote purpose (e.g. mirabile dictu ‘wonderful to relate’).
Origin Late Middle English: the adjective from Latin supinus 'bent backwards' (related to super 'above'); the noun from late Latin supinum, neuter of supinus. Definition of supine in US English: supineadjectiveˈso͞oˌpīnˈsuˌpaɪn 1(of a person) lying face upward. Example sentencesExamples - The sounds of a television, which seems tuned to a crime movie, play across an obstructed vision of a rumpled bed, a supine leg and a discarded handgun.
- In his supine position, his gender was obvious.
- A supine figure lay motionless under a stack of blankets.
- Eventually I found myself lying supine on top of one of those dilapidated benches between the lockers, pretending to sleep.
- I lie, sweaty and supine, upon the damp bedclothes.
- You captured the audience's attention on at least two occasions - while lying supine on the floor, plucking the cello that lay horizontally on top of you, and while playing Bach as you dangled from a balcony.
- Characters speak in unison, repeat phrases obsessively, deliver lines supine on the floor, break up sentences illogically, or mumble sotto voce.
- From my point of view, it seems I'm lying supine on some sort of a bench or table.
- A supine man is roughly dragged off like a carcass.
- Below each of the two buildings lies a supine male figure, with feet at left and head at right.
Synonyms flat on one's back, prone, recumbent, prostrate, stretched out, spreadeagled - 1.1technical Having the front or ventral part upward.
- 1.2 (of the hand) with the palm upward.
2Failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence. supine in the face of racial injustice Example sentencesExamples - Share prices then start to rise again, until such time that the market becomes so overvalued that our supine friends emerge once again from their hibernation.
- But when it came to ‘policing ‘the franchises, the Arts Council proved utterly supine.’
- The same spirit of unimaginative incompetence and weak compromise and supine drift will paralyse trade and business and prevent either financial reorganisation or economic resurgence.
Synonyms weak, spineless, yielding, enervated, effete
nounˈso͞oˌpīnˈsuˌpaɪn Grammar A Latin verbal noun used only in the accusative and ablative cases, especially to denote purpose (e.g., dictu in mirabile dictu “wonderful to relate”).
Origin Late Middle English: the adjective from Latin supinus ‘bent backwards’ (related to super ‘above’); the noun from late Latin supinum, neuter of supinus. |