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Added 9 October 2026

sedate

/sɪˈdeɪt/ verb

In Latin: sēdātus Wiktionary

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about sedate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Cause to be calm or quiet as by administering a sedative to.
The patient must be sedated before the operation

adjective

Characterized by dignity and propriety.
Dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises.
a grave God-fearing man

Origin

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sedate (“not painful or sore”), and directly from its etymon Latin sēdātus (“calm, quiet, composed”), participial adjective from sēdō (“to allay, appease, calm, settle; to end, stop”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”). Compare English -ate (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘characterized by [the thing specified]’). The verb is partly derived from sēdāt-, a participial stem of sēdō (verb sense 2—“to make (someone or something) calm”; see above), and partly a back-formation from sedation (verb sense 1—“to give (a person) a sedative”) + English -ate (suffix forming verbs).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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