How to Use sober in a Sentence

sober

1 of 2 adjective
  • The story is a sober look at drug abuse.
  • The article is a sober reflection on the state of our nation.
  • He is a sober, hardworking farmer.
  • I'm driving, so I have to stay sober tonight.
  • Illness is a sober reminder of our mortality.
  • Both have been sober for decades.
    — George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Less than two years sober at that point.
    — Outside Online, 30 July 2025
  • But Mitchell was sober about the odds.
    — Ed Silverman, STAT, 5 Jan. 2026
  • Lowe said he’s been sober for 35 years.
    — Brie Stimson , Larry Fink, FOXNews.com, 27 Sep. 2025
  • He was centered and sober and true.
    — Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 20 Jan. 2026
  • Sheen is now seven years sober.
    — Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025
  • Evan is now in a sober-living house.
    — Ethan Brooks, The Atlantic, 1 Jan. 2026
  • Biden has been sober for over seven years.
    — Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 8 June 2026
  • My daughter is two years sober, which is great.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 13 Oct. 2025
  • That event was booze-soaked; Zachary is now many years sober.
    — Jordan Michelman, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
  • To be fair, that’s a hard line even for a sober person.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Becca stood in the front yard of their sober home, drenched and stunned.
    — Danielle Bacher, PEOPLE, 16 Jan. 2026
  • But of course, the sober thinkers and the shock troops feed off each other.
    — Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 14 May 2026
  • At the time of his death, Mike was 25 years sober.
    — Nicole Briese, PEOPLE, 26 Dec. 2025
  • Do your best to pick a time of day when your friend is likely sober and alert.
    — Harriette Cole, Mercury News, 25 June 2026
  • For my friends fighting every day to stay sober.
    — Torie Bosch, STAT, 11 Apr. 2026
  • Think pale hues with a sober gray tint or tranquil neutrals.
    — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Walsh got sober at age 28, in 1995.
    — Joe Smith, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2026
  • People who are off the streets and living clean and sober lives.
    — Carlos E. Castañeda, CBS News, 25 Feb. 2026
  • The other four sober actors do their best to keep the show on track.
    — Abraham Swee, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2026
  • Most don’t hold up to sober scrutiny.
    — The Week Us, TheWeek, 18 Mar. 2026
  • The centre room requires a sober mind.
    — Hazlitt, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Blondie looked rather bedraggled himself, but more or less sober.
    — Stephen King, The Atlantic, 15 May 2026
  • By the three month mark, even my two teenage sons were remarking on my sober skin.
    — Donna Francis, Allure, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Ali is a bit more sober, no pun intended, about his emotions.
    — Selome Hailu, Variety, 1 June 2026

sober

2 of 2 verb
  • He returned home from the war, saddened and sobered by his experiences.
  • Workers who show up drunk these days are sent home to sober up.
    — Sydney Ember Kim Raff, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2022
  • That day, my dad sobered up and never had a drink the rest of his life.
    — Adam Bryant, New York Times, 9 June 2017
  • The news is sobering elsewhere too.
    — Ari Daniel, NPR, 22 Oct. 2025
  • And for the wise aunts who make strong coffee, so the crazy uncles may sober up.
    — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 23 Dec. 2017
  • For small towns, mid-sized suburbs and big cities alike, the abrupt switch has been sobering.
    — Don Stacom, courant.com, 9 July 2019
  • Trump seems, if anything, sobered by the gravity of his new role.
    — vanityfair.com, 27 Apr. 2017
  • But one area of the house is sobering for those dispensing mean-girl slights.
    — Brad Wete, Billboard, 16 June 2017
  • When divvied up by region, race and class, the results are sobering.
    — John Myers, latimes.com, 9 June 2019
  • Schmidt explained to the nurse that there was nothing for her father to sober up from.
    — Kelly Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Apr. 2022
  • The fact that Covid will always be with us should not freak people out but sober them up.
    — The Editors, National Review, 22 Dec. 2021
  • Officers took the man to the Westlake jail to sober up and calm down.
    — Bruce Geiselman, cleveland, 14 Aug. 2021
  • The effort comes amid sobering statewide data.
    — Faysal Aalen, CBS News, 30 Dec. 2025
  • Wrestling with the high cost of care The statistics are sobering.
    — Maria L. La Ganga, idahostatesman, 26 Aug. 2017
  • The Knicks, who had fallen behind, were starting to sober up.
    — Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2021
  • This is sobering news for the company, which has watched iPad sales drop for years.
    — Don Reisinger, Fortune, 29 Jan. 2020
  • Although the report is sobering, the study’s authors said there is hope.
    — Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, 8 Oct. 2019
  • This year’s free agent market, or lack thereof, had to be sobering for players and agents.
    — John Fay, Cincinnati.com, 17 Mar. 2018
  • This is a movie in which the de-rigueur baptism scene is of the preacher himself being dunked to sober up.
    — Author: Ann Hornaday, Anchorage Daily News, 28 June 2018
  • The policy is likely to sober up some of the heaviest drinkers.
    — The Economist, 1 Mar. 2018
  • After three rounds of bombs-away frivolity, Erin Hills sobered up.
    — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 19 June 2017
  • Primary voters should be sobered by the magnitude of the stakes.
    — William A. Galston, WSJ, 13 Nov. 2018
  • But in retrospect, the logistics of those school trips are sobering.
    — Alli Harvey, Alaska Dispatch News, 29 Sep. 2017
  • The only other ones that come close were sobering up and then starting a family.
    — Shay Spence, PEOPLE.com, 17 Jan. 2018
  • But after a week of sobering data, Lofven now seems to be striking a darker tone.
    — Niclas Rolander, Bloomberg.com, 8 May 2020
  • But he is suddenly hit with a dose of sobering reality.
    — Keith Murphy, VIBE.com, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Moving to sober living was nerve-racking as there are a lot of roommates constantly on top of each other.
    — Adam Carlson, PEOPLE.com, 10 Sep. 2020
  • The milestone lands as the state faces sobering academic and fiscal headwinds.
    — State House News Service, Boston Herald, 4 Mar. 2026
  • Officers intervened and convinced the woman to go back into the house and sober up.
    — cleveland, 17 Apr. 2021
  • Still, the numbers for a player who is already on the short list of the best receivers in team history are sobering.
    — Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times, 9 Oct. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sober.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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