Supine vs. Recumbent — What's the Difference?

In grammar, a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages. The term is most often used for Latin, where it is one of the four principal parts of a verb.

(especially of a person or effigy) lying down

(of a person) lying face upwards.

A type of bicycle designed to be ridden lying almost flat on one's back.

Failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence

Lying down, especially in a position of comfort or rest; reclining.

A Latin verbal noun used only in the accusative and ablative cases, especially to denote purpose (e.g. mirabile dictu ‘wonderful to relate’).

Resting; idle.

Lying on the back or having the face upward.

(Biology) Resting on the surface from which it arises. Used of an organ or other structure.

Having the palm upward. Used of the hand.

A recumbent bicycle.

Marked by or showing lethargy, passivity, or blameworthy indifference

Lying down.

In Latin grammar, a verbal noun used in only a few syntactic constructions and occurring in only two cases, an accusative in -tum or -sum and an ablative in -tū or -sū. The accusative form of the supine is sometimes considered to be the fourth principal part of the Latin verb.

Inactive; idle.

Lying on its back.

A bicycle or tricycle that places the rider in a reclined posture.

(of the hand, forearm or foot) turned facing toward the body; with the thumb outward or the big toe upward.

Leaning; reclining; lying; as, the recumbent posture of the Romans at their meals. Hence, figuratively; Resting; inactive; idle.

(figuratively) Reluctant to take action due to indifference or moral weakness; apathetic or passive towards something.

Lying down; in a position of comfort or rest

Inclining or leaning backward; inclined, sloping.

In Latin and other languages: a type of verbal noun used in the ablative and accusative cases, which shares the same stem as the passive participle.

In Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic and Old Norse: a verb form that combines with an inflection of ha/hafa/hava to form the present perfect and pluperfect tenses.

(obsolete terminology) The 'to'-prefixed infinitive in English or other Germanic languages, so named because the infinitive was regarded as a verbal noun and the 'to'-prefixed form of it was seen as the dative form of the verbal noun; the full infinitive.

Lying on the back, or with the face upward; - opposed to prone.

Leaning backward, or inclining with exposure to the sun; sloping; inclined.

Negligent; heedless; indolent; listless.

A verbal noun; or (according to C.F.Becker), a case of the infinitive mood ending in -um and -u, that in -um being sometimes called the former supine, and that in -u the latter supine.

Lying face upward

Offering no resistance;