Words / C2

sop-uh-RIF-ik/ˌsɒpəˈrɪfɪk/

Soporific means causing sleep, or of prose and talks, dull enough to send you under: a soporific lecture, soporific heat. Sleepy is everyday; tedious (already in the dictionary) is boring at length, the close cousin. A sedative is the medical relative. Do not call a required fire minute soporific because it is plain.

Meaning

Causing sleep or drowsiness; of prose, dull enough to send you to sleep.

Examples

• “A soporific keynote is not a sample-size sentence.”
• “Sleepy is everyday. Tedious is long and dull (already in the dictionary). Boring is the blunt gloss. A short, dated n can be dry and still right. A purple hour that never states the cell is soporific in the style sense. Cut the frosting; keep the number.”

Good to know

Sleep-inducing; tediously dull. Everyday: sleep-inducing / boring. Close: tedious (already in this dictionary). A plain date is not a lullaby.

Near in meaning

tedious

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