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Glite Dictionary
😴 Too little sleep 😴 To sleep too little
to undersleep

to undersleep

6.8
To sleep less than your body needs
  • verb
  • /ˌʌndərˈsliːp/
translation icon : dormir poco
  • She tends to undersleep during exam periods because of stress and late-night studying.

Examples

  • After a week in which he had underslept, he finally caught up on rest over the weekend.

  • I often undersleep during the week.

  • If you undersleep for several nights, you may feel exhausted.

  • She underslept last night because of her studies.

  • He felt tired all day because he underslept during the night.

  • If you continue to undersleep, you may find it hard to concentrate at work.

  • After a week of undersleeping, she knew she needed to adjust her schedule.

Antonyms

to oversleep
29 2.0

Sleep longer than you meant to and wake up late

How Much Sleep

to oversleep
29 2.0
to sleep
∞ 1.0
to undersleep
6.8
to doze
43 2.3

Surface Forms

undersleep infinitive
undersleeping present participle
undersleeps third person singular
underslept past
underslept past participle

Morphology

undersleep = sleep (transparent) = under + sleep

The verb is formed by productive prefixation 'under-' (insufficient) + 'sleep', yielding 'to sleep less than required'.

Etymology

Undersleep comes from the parts under- ('not enough') and sleep, so to undersleep is to sleep less than you need. That's why if you undersleep you may feel tired and find it hard to think clearly.