drift off
phrasal verb
drifted off; drifting off; drifts off
informal
: to fall asleep
She drifted off while I was still talking.
He gradually drifted off to sleep.
Examples of drift off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Educators are split too, amused by the ingenuity, yet frustrated that students are still finding ways to drift off task during lessons.
—
Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2025
With our record, most people would try to drift off from each other.
—Zack Rosenblatt, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
Traditional backup systems such as inertial navigation units can only operate for short periods without drifting off course when GPS is not available to recalibrate them.
—Paul Smith-Goodson, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Ronson repeated the phrase before drifting off to sleep.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for drift off
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.
Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2025
With our record, most people would try to drift off from each other.
—Zack Rosenblatt, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
Traditional backup systems such as inertial navigation units can only operate for short periods without drifting off course when GPS is not available to recalibrate them.
—Paul Smith-Goodson, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Ronson repeated the phrase before drifting off to sleep.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for drift off
Cite this Entry
“Drift off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drift%20off. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share