sobriety

1 a mental state free of jesting or trifling <an abrupt sobriety fell over the group when they heard the news> Synonyms earnest, graveness, gravity, intentness, serious-mindedness, seriousness, soberness, earnestness, solemnity, solemnness, staidnessRelated Words gravitas, humorlessness; decisiveness, deliberation, determination, firmness, purposefulness, resoluteness, resolve; absorption, attentiveness, concentration, engrossment, enthrallment, immersion, intensityNear Antonyms lightness, shallowness, superficiality; dalliance, dilettantism; cheerfulness, gaiety (also gayety), glee, high-spiritedness, merriment, mirthAntonyms facetiousness, flightiness, flippancy, frivolity, frivolousness, levity, lightheartedness, lightness, play, unseriousness

2 voluntary restraint in the satisfaction of one's appetites <although she can afford to wear anything, she practices a sartorial sobriety that bespeaks class and taste> Synonyms continence, self-abnegation, self-denial, abstinence, temperanceRelated Words control, forbearance, restraint; discipline, self-command, self-control, self-discipline, self-mastery; asceticism, austerityNear Antonyms gluttony, greed, rapaciousness, rapacity, voraciousness, voracity; hedonism, sensuality, sybaritismAntonyms self-indulgence