to lie awake

Examples

• All

• Sometimes I lie awake at night... and feel pinned to the bed with shame.

  Guinevere (1999)

• "I'd lie awake until 2 or 3 in the morning, staring at the ceiling," she says.

  Academic text (2006)

• Every night as I lie awake!

  His Only Son (2023)

• Why were you lying awake that night?

  Night Must Fall (1937)

• I am lying awake at night, unable to sleep because I'd like to get a smaller home, just one that is less work for us.

• I'd lie awake and think.

  Goalie (2019)

• I used to lie awake at night, worrying myself sick over him.

  Fiction book (2000)

• I remember one night lying awake in bed for hours, trapped beneath the sheets by fear.

  Fiction book (2001)

• At night, when his wife is curled next to him in bed, he lies awake, still taut from work.

  Fiction book (1997)

• Darl's identity unravels as he lies awake in bed.

  Academic text (2018)

Synonyms

S

to stay up

vsto lie awake

• Informal

253 2.4

To be awake later than usual

is staying awake while lying in bed, usually without choice

S

to sit up

vsto lie awake

47 1.8

To stay awake late and not go to bed

is being awake in bed, usually unable to fall asleep rather than by choice

N

to not sleep a wink

vsto lie awake

• Informal

8 5.0

Not sleep at all during the night

is being awake in bed despite trying, not necessarily all night

Antonyms

S

to sleep

∞ 1.0

To rest with eyes closed and not be awake

D

to doze off

• Informal

35 2.7

To fall asleep for a short time without meaning to

How Awake

wide awake

26 2.7

to lie awake

22 3.7

to toss

94 1.4

light sleep

1 3.7

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology