sleep
- noun
- /sliːp/
- It was in his sleep, peaceful, with no suffering, but it made philosophers of all of us.
- eternal sleep
Oh, what made Fatua sunbeams toil to break Earth's sleep at all?
- Oh, what made Fatua sunbeams toil to break Earth's sleep at all?
- In terms of physical terms, what sleep means is inertia.
Examples
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At this stage, his wife must be turning in her sleep, tossed between insults and exhaustion.
Fiction book (1990) -
The bear enters a state of sleep during the winter months to conserve energy.
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You woke the bear from his sleep.
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Never lose any sleep over accusations.
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But most of us assume that sleep evolved.
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Go back to sleep, there's no need to feel blue.
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I've never seen anyone frown so much in their sleep.
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During hibernation, the groundhog goes into a deep sleep until spring.
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In literature, some characters appear to be in a permanent sleep as a metaphor for death.
Synonyms
A time when you are not awake
A period when something is asleep or inactive
To sleep for a short time during the day
A short sleep taken to rest, often at night
A heavy sleep when the body and mind rest and are not aware of surroundings
A period when a person or group stops usual activity to rest and save energy
A very heavy sleep that is hard to wake from
A short light sleep often taken without meaning to
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
Stay half awake and watch for danger while you sleep because you are afraid
- Offensive
To be killed and thrown into water by criminals, often said as a joke
- Archaic
To die peacefully, people say this as a gentle way to talk about someone's death
- Informal
Accept a belief or excuse that makes someone feel better, even if it is not true
Compounds
- Specialized
A stage of sleep with fast eye movement, clear dreams, and high brain activity
- Specialized
Breathing stops for short times during sleep, causing poor sleep and health risks
- Specialized
A low power state when a device turns off most parts but can wake quickly
- Specialized
A sleep stage when the eyes move quickly and most dreaming happens
- Specialized
A part of sleep without fast eye movements or dreams when the body repairs itself
- Specialized
A stage of sleep without fast eye movements when you usually do not dream
- Archaic
A stage of sleep without quick eye movements or dreaming when the body repairs itself
- Literature
A plan where a couple sleeps in separate beds or rooms because they have different sleep habits
- Specialized
A sleep problem where someone wakes from deep sleep with intense fear and often screams, usually without memory
How Inactive
Surface Forms
Etymology
Sleep also came to mean a very deep or long rest and comes from the same old word slǣp for quiet rest. That's why people call hibernation or peaceful death 'sleep'—it feels like a long, calm rest.