1
: into a state of sleep
2
: into the sleep of death
3
: into a state of inactivity, sluggishness, or indifference
Examples of asleep in a Sentence
Adjective
“Are you asleep?” “No, I'm awake.”
He tries to clean up the house while the kids are asleep.
The cats are asleep on the floor.
She was still asleep at noon.
Recent Examples on the Web
Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
Locci’s six-year-old son, asleep in the back seat, survived and later sought help.
—Isadora Wandermurem, Time, 22 Oct. 2025
Aisha Muharrar, Bon Appetit Magazine, 2 Oct. 2025
Granite State Dog Center, a doggy day care in New Hampshire, captured a video of all the large dogs fast asleep.
—Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for asleep
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Adjective
Qing Yuan had seen many of these tiny corpses, pinkish, yellowish, tin-gray, curled up, always seemingly asleep, tossed by janitors into fires outside the building.
—Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
Locci’s six-year-old son, asleep in the back seat, survived and later sought help.
—Isadora Wandermurem, Time, 22 Oct. 2025
Adverb
The whir of the white noise machine that helped my daughter fall back asleep.
—Aisha Muharrar, Bon Appetit Magazine, 2 Oct. 2025
Granite State Dog Center, a doggy day care in New Hampshire, captured a video of all the large dogs fast asleep.
—Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for asleep
Cite this Entry
“Asleep.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/asleep. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share