somnambulant

adjective

som·​nam·​bu·​lant säm-ˈnam-byə-lənt How to pronounce somnambulant (audio)
1
: walking or having the habit of walking while asleep
2
: resembling or having the characteristics of a sleepwalker : sluggish

Examples of somnambulant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Later Clay sits handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser when the cops stop a mute, possibly somnambulant woman who has three vertical eye slits in her face. Ed Park, The New York Review of Books, 14 Mar. 2023 Baseball, too, has plenty of somnambulant qualities: hitters stepping out of the box; the hum of a summer crowd; the snap of the ball in a catcher’s mitt; the muffled screaming as the Pirates concede another season. Jason Gay, WSJ, 20 June 2022 The phrasing is chatty but not overstuffed, the synthesizers underline Swift’s emotions rather than obscuring them and the insecurities feel like genuine transmissions from Swift’s somnambulant psyche. Lindsay Zoladz, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2022 Across the Capitol, the fallout from FTX quickly overshadowed what normally might be a somnambulant hearing in the Senate Banking Committee about credit unions. Tony Romm, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Nov. 2022 While the current Corolla is both one of the more fuel-efficient options in its class and thoroughly somnambulant in its driving character, the high-performance GR variant is aimed purely at maximum performance. Drew Dorian, Car and Driver, 8 Nov. 2022 The Red Sox offense, meanwhile, looked somnambulant against Cincinnati starter Chase Anderson (three hits, no walks, and one run allowed over five innings to lower his ERA to 5.21) and the Reds bullpen. Alex Speier, BostonGlobe.com, 21 Sep. 2022 Fields has much bigger fish to fry — namely awakening a somnambulant passing attack that has produced an NFL-worst 153 yards through two games. Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 21 Sep. 2022 The current debate between Right and Left seems to be over which of the two will have the privilege of turning us into the somnambulant demi-humans Tocqueville describes. Cameron Hilditch, National Review, 1 May 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'somnambulant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of somnambulant was in 1832

Dictionary Entries Near somnambulant

Cite this Entry

“Somnambulant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/somnambulant. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Medical Definition

somnambulant

adjective
som·​nam·​bu·​lant säm-ˈnam-byə-lənt How to pronounce somnambulant (audio)
: walking or tending to walk while asleep

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