Word of the Day

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

supine

\soo-PYN; SOO-pyn\ , adjective;

Lying on the back, or with the face upward.

Indolent; listless; inactive; mentally or morally lethargic.

Read the full entry|See synonyms|Comment on today's word|Suggest tomorrow's word

Quotes:

On the edge of sleep, I urged my thoughts backward, back to my own back yard, where I lay supine, looking at the stars on a summer night, looking back in time as far as starlight could take me--and a drop of water fell on my forehead.

-- Eric Kraft, Leaving Small's Hotel

Days are spent lying supine, crouching or kneeling in that small space, chiseling away at the matrix rock and picking out the nuggets of fossilized resin that are exposed.

-- George Poinar Jr. and Roberta Poinar, The Amber Forest

Such independence of mind was a revelation and an incitement. It promised a counterweight to a supine tendency to follow socially sanctioned practices and ideas.

-- Alain De Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

Origin:

Supine derives from Latin supinus, "lying on the back."