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.

Related 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

Dissimilar Words

• defiant
• recalcitrant
• indomitable
• competent
• refractory
• effective
• uncontrollable
• intractable
• capable
• authoritarian
• restive
• insurgent
• autocratic
• efficient
• mutinous
• dominant
• able
• despotic
• contrary
• disobedient
• insubordinate
• rebellious
• contumacious
• vigorous
• tyrannical
• dictatorial
• unruly
• dynamic
• untoward
• ungovernable
• magisterial
• forceful
• froward
• energetic
• robust
• sturdy
• perverse
• willful
• wayward
• tough
• wrongheaded
• balky
• incompliant
• undisciplined
• headstrong
• senior
• major
• unmanageable
• important
• top
• significant
• 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 supine Republicans who now controlled both chambers of Congress gave him cover, while a decade of evading consequences lent his presidency an aura of near total impunity. —Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 25 Feb. 2026

The female landscape, or woman as map, is often used to portray countries as active, aggressive or supine, depending upon the status of the nation state in relation to war and peace and the stereotypes of a country. —Melinda Laituri, The Conversation, 4 Feb. 2026

There have been some truly awful performances, including a supine 1-0 defeat at Sunderland, their local rivals. —The Athletic Uk Staff, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2026

Democrats have spent the past 13 months in a state of introspection, reinvention and occasionally, supine inaction. —Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Dec. 2025