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supine

su·pine

UK/ˈs(j)uːpaɪn/ US/ˌsuˈpaɪn/ uncommon rare

adjective

1.

lying face upward

Synonyms
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2.

offering no resistance

  • “resistless hostages”
  • “No other colony showed such supine, selfish helplessness in allowing her own border citizens to be mercilessly harried” Theodore Roosevelt
Synonyms
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Origin

The adjective is borrowed from Latin supīnus, from *sup- (see sub (“under”)) + -īnus (“of, pertaining to”). The word is cognate with Catalan supí, Italian supino, Old French sovin, Middle French souvin, Anglo-Norman supin, Old Occitan sobin, sopin, Portuguese supino, Spanish supino. Partly displaced Old English upweard (“upward, supine”), whence Modern English upward. The noun is from Late Middle English supin (“supine of a Latin verb”) or Middle French supin (“(grammar) supine”), from Latin supīnum, (ellipsis of supīnum verbum (“supine verb”)), from supīnus; further etymology above.

Phrases

  • supine hypotensive syndrome
  • supine tense

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.