"sobering" in the verb sense
1. sober
cause to become sober
"A sobering thought"
2. sober up, sober
become more realistic
"After thinking about the potential consequences of his plan, he sobered up"
3. sober up, sober
become sober after excessive alcohol consumption
"Keep him in bed until he sobers up"
"sobering" in the adjective sense
1. sobering
tending to make sober or more serious
"the news had a sobering effect"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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