supine
adjective

- if you are supine, you are weak and willing to accept the control of others

- lying on the back or with the face upward

Cambridge Dictionary /  Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

The word "supine" (from c. 1500) has its roots in Latin. It comes from the Latin word supinus, which means "lying on the back" or "bent backward”.

The sense of "morally or mentally inert, negligent, listless, heedless" appeared in English around 1600.

Over time, the word "supine" has come to be used in English to describe a posture of lying on one's back with the face upward or figuratively to describe a passive or inactive attitude.

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LAZY JOAN

Comedian Joan Rivers claimed to be the laziest person in the family. During an interview one day she offered a lovely example. "When I watch a tennis match," she said with a shrug, "I never turn my head. Why should I exert myself? When the ball doesn't come back, I know somebody missed it."

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SYNONYMS

acquiescent, apathetic, apathetical, do-nothing, docile, dormant, dull, enervated, feeble, idle, inactive, incompetent, indifferent, indolent, inert, lackadaisical, languid, lax, lazy, lethargic, listless, motionless, passive, pliant, quiet, sedentary, sluggish, spiritless, spineless, submissive, subordinate, SUPINE, tolerant, unconcerned, uninterested, unresponsive, weak

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“When feeling that something is incorrect, it’s usually better to speak up than to be SUPINE.”

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