How to Use sobering in a Sentence

sobering

adjective

• His death is a sobering reminder of the dangers of mountaineering.
• But on the ground in Afghanistan, the news is far more sobering.
  — Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Aug. 2019
• At the end of a sobering week, we're left with the vigils.
  — ABC News, 25 July 2021
• Their most sobering message was that the world still hasn’t seen the worst of it.
  — John Branch, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2020
• That’s a sobering turn of events for a sports franchise that ruled the Bay Area’s roost for most of the ’60s and ’70s.
  — Gary Peterson, The Mercury News, 25 July 2019
• And for a sobering dose of caution, thank the Dodgers, still hot on their spikes.
  — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Sep. 2021
• That's been the sobering pace of shootings in Kentucky's largest city since the start of 2020.
  — The Courier-Journal, 10 May 2021
• In a sobering turn of events, Elon Musk prepares to eat his own words.
  — WSJ, 4 Oct. 2022
• Yet the film is rooted in a sobering grasp of the trauma that can be the flip side of triumph.
  — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2024
• This week’s Davos confab is sure to be more sobering than most.
  — Jennifer Duggan, Time, 15 Jan. 2023
• But that fact has never been more sobering than in his death.
  — Lucy Ford, TIME, 21 Oct. 2024
• The video then flits back to 2020, with the sportsman giving a sobering message.
  — Sara Spary, CNN, 3 Dec. 2020
• The more sobering thought for the Nuggets can be summarized in two words and a hyphen: Ant-Man.
  — Troy Renck, The Denver Post, 4 May 2024
• So the actual death rate is (and should be) much more sobering.
  — Star Tribune, 9 Dec. 2020
• That’s the sobering reality of a day and loss such as this.
  — oregonlive, 11 June 2020
• But in the sobering morning light, Adam’s demeanor changes, kicking her to the curb.
  — Courtney Howard, Variety, 16 Jan. 2025
• The sobering number means there’s been more mass shootings than days so far in 2023.
  — Nouran Salahieh, CNN, 19 June 2023
• In that sense, the show has a unity that is sobering and inspiring.
  — Julian Bell, The New York Review of Books, 20 July 2023
• That sobering remark wipes the smile off Egan’s face as quickly as the sight of Clevan put it there.
  — Hunter Ingram, Variety, 23 Feb. 2024
• John didn't want to become part of a sobering statistic.
  — Scottie Andrew, CNN, 27 Oct. 2020
• Consider some of the sobering facts presented in the book.
  — Madhukar Pai, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
• After a sobering talk, Dickrell flushed the pills down the toilet.
  — Alex Prewitt, SI.com, 14 June 2019
• The resulting film is one of the most sobering works about war that has ever reached the silver screen.
  — Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2020
• Hilton and Doyle leaving would be a sobering moment for Colts fans.
  — Evan Sidery, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2022
• Good job moving the patient to a possible choice to change in the sobering centers.
  — Torie Bosch, STAT, 16 Dec. 2023
• An even more sobering fact, only three of the 39 are women of color.
  — Jennifer Dirks, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 15 Sep. 2020
• But there’s a second, more sobering lesson: There are limits to how much the country, and the world, can adapt.
  — New York Times, 2 Sep. 2021
• But in all that data he’s been parsing, two sobering threads have emerged.
  — Jen Chaney, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2024
• The dangers faced by law enforcement are also a sobering reminder of the stakes.
  — Jillian E. Snider, Boston Herald, 13 June 2025
• Deeper in the data, though, a sobering number surfaced.
  — Siddhartha Mukherjee, New Yorker, 16 June 2025