Synonyms of supine

supine

adjective

as in passive

lacking the ability or will to act on one's own

They blamed the disaster on supine politicians who allowed large corporations to flout regulations.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• passive
• feeble
• incompetent
• acquiescent
• spineless
• submissive
• subordinate
• tolerant
• resigned
• obedient
• nonresistant
• docile
• pliant
• subservient
• yielding
• weak
• obeisant
• unaggressive
• compliant
• surrendering
• slavish
• conformist
• tolerating
• conformable
• unresistant
• pliable
• amiable
• unresponsive
• complying
• tractable
• willing
• apathetic
• uncaring
• helpless
• amenable
• incapable
• ineffectual
• powerless
• agreeable
• obliging
• ineffective
• useless
• law-abiding
• impotent
• unfit
• paralyzed
• guidable
• inept
• high and dry
• handcuffed
• hog-tied
• impuissant
• hamstrung

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• defiant
• recalcitrant
• competent
• indomitable
• refractory
• effective
• uncontrollable
• capable
• intractable
• authoritarian
• restive
• insurgent
• efficient
• able
• autocratic
• dominant
• mutinous
• contrary
• despotic
• disobedient
• insubordinate
• contumacious
• rebellious
• vigorous
• tyrannical
• dictatorial
• dynamic
• unruly
• untoward
• ungovernable
• magisterial
• forceful
• energetic
• robust
• sturdy
• wilful
• perverse
• willful
• wayward
• tough
• wrongheaded
• tyrannic
• froward
• balky
• incompliant
• undisciplined
• headstrong
• major
• senior
• unmanageable
• important
• top
• significant
• autocratical
• dissident
• high-level
• powerful
• mighty
• nonconformist
• strong
• potent
• puissant

Synonym Chooser

How is the word supine different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of supine are idle, inactive, inert, and passive. While all these words mean "not engaged in work or activity," supine applies only to persons and commonly implies abjectness or indolence.

a supine willingness to play the fool

When would idle be a good substitute for supine?

The words idle and supine are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, idle applies to persons that are not busy or occupied or to their powers or their implements.

workers were idle in the fields

When might inactive be a better fit than supine?

The meanings of inactive and supine largely overlap; however, inactive applies to anyone or anything not in action or in operation or at work.

on inactive status as an astronaut

inactive accounts

Where would inert be a reasonable alternative to supine?

The words inert and supine can be used in similar contexts, but inert as applied to things implies powerlessness to move or to affect other things; as applied to persons it suggests an inherent or habitual indisposition to activity.

inert ingredients in drugs

an inert citizenry

In what contexts can passive take the place of supine?

While the synonyms passive and supine are close in meaning, passive implies immobility or lack of normally expected response to an external force or influence and often suggests deliberate submissiveness or self-control.

passive resistance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of supine

The Tesla board, which had changed somewhat since 2018 but was still supine toward Musk, also asked shareholders in effect to overturn McCormick’s ruling by voting on the pay package again. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2024

All that is left is a nearly operatic cast of figures: the isolated tsar, the supine patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, the treacherous courtiers, the money-grabbing warlords, and, finally, the audacious pretender—all of them acting according to the ancient scripts. —Vladislav Zubok, Foreign Affairs, 28 June 2023

The supine political leaders of Nevada should be ashamed at sticking their constituents with a billionaire’s invoice. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2024

The other thread is the party’s supine deference to its rich and corporate patrons. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2023