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Glite Dictionary
🍺 To become less drunk 🤔 To get realistic
to sober up

to sober up

2 5.3
To start thinking and acting more sensibly after being careless
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈsoʊbər ʌp/
translation icon : entrar en razón
  • And I think, you know, you know, normally you would think, oh, sober up, child, it's not going to happen.

And I think, you know, you know, normally you would think, oh, sober up, child, it's not going to happen.

Examples

  • On a second reading of a poem that has wowed us, we might grow even more interested, but we start to sober up.

    Academic text (2009)

  • As for you conservatives who are convinced today that suddenly we are a socialist nation, sober up and pay attention: the next two years are going to be some of the most impactful and fun years in the conservative movement.

    Blog text (24)

  • And I think, you know, you know, normally you would think, oh, sober up child, it's not going to happen.

  • "Later he'll sober up and be more sensible.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Sober up, Grogan, and fly right!

    Piranha (1978)

  • This is what he said to me, and when I sobered up and read it again, I felt so at ease with where I am right now:

    Blog text (12)

  • We await you when you sober up and realize that President Hitlerly is not in your best interests.

    Blog text (28)

  • Sober up!

    Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

  • - Sober up, hermano.

    The Tall Men (1955)

  • You need to sober up and start thinking more realistically about your plans.

Synonyms

to sober
vsto sober up
50 4.1

To stop being drunk or make someone more serious

is mainly about becoming realistic after careless or fanciful behaviour
to come to one's senses
vsto sober up
  • Informal
46 4.4

Start thinking and acting in a sensible way again after being foolish or upset

focuses on becoming realistic after careless action or imaginative daydreaming
to come down to earth
vsto sober up
1 4.8

Start to think and act in a realistic way after being excited

applies to becoming sensible after careless or fantasizing behaviour rather than only excitement

Antonyms

to fantasize
  • US
126 4.5

To imagine things that are not real because you want them

How Sensible

to see the light
  • Informal
55 5.0
to sober up
2 5.3
to come to one's senses
  • Informal
46 4.4

Surface Forms

sober up infinitive
sobered up past
sobered up past participle
sobering up present participle
sober ups third person singular

Morphology

sober + up

The core meaning is compositionally built from 'sober' (becoming not intoxicated or more serious) plus the particle 'up' which signals a change of state, so learners who know the words can plausibly infer a sense of becoming sober. However, the extended, metaphorical use 'become more realistic/sensible' is a pragmatic extension that is not fully predictable from the parts alone, so it should be judged only partially transparent to B1 learners.

Etymology

Sober up also paints the image of someone who stops daydreaming or acting without care and suddenly sits up to look at the facts. So sober up is used to mean 'to become more realistic or sensible'.