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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

supine.

Lying on its back.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈs(j)uːpaɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˌsuˈpaɪn/General-American/ˈsuˌpaɪn/General-American
  1. Lying on its back.

  2. Of the hand, forearm or foot, turned facing toward the body or upward: with the thumb outward (palm up), or with the big toe raised relative to the little toe.

    when one is washing one’s face, the hand is in the supine position; and then the forearm is also in the supine position; when the foot is resting on the outer side of the sole, it is in the supine position
  3. Reluctant to take action due to indifference or moral weakness; apathetic or passive towards something.

    figuratively
    Such corruption is commonplace in a world of supine civil servants and underfunded ministries.
  4. Inclining or leaning backward; inclined, sloping.

    poetic · rare
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/ˈs(j)uːpaɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˌsuˈpaɪn/General-American/ˈsuˌpaɪn/General-American
  1. In Latin and other languages: a type of verbal noun used in the ablative and accusative cases, which shares the same stem as the passive participle.

    also · attributive
  2. In Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic and Old Norse: a verb form that combines with an inflection of ha/hafa/hava to form the present perfect and pluperfect tenses.

    also · attributive
  3. (obsolete terminology) The 'to'-prefixed infinitive in English or other Germanic languages, so named because the infinitive was regarded as a verbal noun and the 'to'-prefixed form of it was seen as the dative form of the verbal noun; the full infinitive.

    also · attributive
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.