sleeping 1 of 3

sleeping

2 of 3

noun

sleeping

3 of 3

verb

present participle of sleep
1
as in napping
to be in a state of sleep the baby slept for the entire length of the car trip found the night watchman sleeping at his post

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in breeding
to engage in sexual intercourse if I don't read the tabloids, how will I know who is sleeping with whom this week?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sleeping
Adjective
  • When the children are asleep, Charlotte and Raffi can grab the baby monitor and hop the balcony wall to their friends’ house.
    Rhaina Cohen, The Atlantic, 11 May 2025
  • One of them is asleep, actually, or maybe dead already?
    Allegra Leal, New Yorker, 9 May 2025
Verb
  • During the winter months, your lawn is either growing slowly or resting in dormancy, depending on the climate in your region.
    Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Jan. 2025
  • But the infection typically does improve with resting, drinking fluids and over-the-counter medication.
    Christina Shaw, Fox News, 7 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • Glenn Close may have played the dog-napping Cruella De Vil in the 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians, but Stone starred in this 2021 prequel, which explored Cruella's origins inside the world of high fashion.
    James Mercadante, EW.com, 30 Mar. 2025
  • While napping has been found to be beneficial for cognitive abilities like memory and function, the timing is important — longer naps and napping later in the afternoon could cause someone to feel more alert when bedtime rolls around, Drerup said.
    Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Take a cutting a few inches long with several leaves to include a node (that brown bumpy thing which is a dormant growing point where the stem meets the leaf).
    Arricca Elin SanSone, Southern Living, 9 May 2025
  • Shingles develops in people who have previously had chicken pox, a virus that remains dormant in the body after acute infections clear up and can be reactivated later in life.
    Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 8 May 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Sleeping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sleeping. Accessed 24 May. 2025.

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