18 March 2016

supine

[adjective soo-pahyn; noun soo-pahyn]

adjective

1. lying on the back, face or front upward.
2. inactive, passive, or inert, especially from indolence or indifference.
3. (of the hand) having the palm upward.
noun
4. (in Latin) a noun form derived from verbs, appearing only in the accusative and the dative-ablative, as dictū in mirābile dictū, “wonderful to say.”.
5. (in English) the simple infinitive of a verb preceded by to.
6. an analogous form in some other language.

Origin of supine

Latin

1490-1500; < Latin supīnus lying face up, inactive

Related forms

supinely, adverb
supineness, noun
unsupine, adjective

Can be confused

prone, prostate, prostrate, supine.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for supine

Contemporary Examples

In effect, an overreaching administration and a supine FISC are ginning up a secret constitution.
The Secret FISA Court Must Go
Jennifer Granick, Christopher Sprigman
July 23, 2013

On closer examination, this is not the hand of a supine victim.
The Crime of Kufr Qaddoum: An EmergencyStandWithDavidMonitor Animal Rights Division Expose
Eli Valley
March 28, 2012

Historical Examples

Is the assembly to be deemed indifferent or supine because it refuses to act on the testimony of a solitary witness?
Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy, Volume II
Charles Henry Mackintosh

Anagram

sun pie
pine us

Today’s quote

You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.

– Robert A. Heinlein

On this day

18 March 1922 – Mahatma Gandhi sentenced to six years imprisonment by an Indian court for civil disobedience against the British Empire, which included boycotting British made goods. He ended up serving two years.

18 March 1965 – Russian cosmonaut, Lt Col Alexei Leonov becomes the first man to walk in space, when he exits his spacecraft for a short ‘walk’, which included a somersault.