Home UK English asleep

Meaning of asleep in English:

asleep

Pronunciation /əˈsliːp/

See synonyms for asleep

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adjective

predicative

  • 1In a state of sleep.

    ‘she had been asleep for over three hours’
    • ‘a man lay asleep’
    • ‘he soon fell asleep’
    • ‘There they fell asleep and slept peacefully, as lovers did when they were together.’
    • ‘I was so glad of my bed when I got to it that I fell asleep right away, and slept through until I was woken by the phone at eight.’
    • ‘Samuel smiled and wrapped his arms around her as he too dozed off and fell asleep.’
    • ‘She rubbed his head till he fell asleep again, and she soon drifted off to sleep once more.’
    • ‘When they got home Nan fell asleep on the couch and remained asleep for the rest of the afternoon.’
    • ‘When I got to Las Vegas, I got my racing number and went back to the car to rest and fell asleep.’
    • ‘He was so exhausted from today's walk that when he sat down to rest, he fell asleep.’
    • ‘One night she was at a party and fell asleep sitting on the speakerbox.’
    • ‘So I fell asleep on the pull out couch in my studio apartment the minute I got home.’
    • ‘I flew back from Seoul last night and fell asleep almost right away.’
    • ‘I fell asleep knowing that whatever we had, it was finished, that this moment would be the last, that I had to let him go.’
    • ‘I used to listen to your breathing for hours after you fell asleep at night.’
    • ‘I fell asleep sometime after that and had some very disturbed dreams.’
    • ‘She had pizza bagels for lunch and fell asleep for a nap soon after we were done.’
    • ‘As I fell asleep halfway through, I never did discover how that turned out.’
    • ‘I don't know what's wearing me out at the moment, but for the first time in years I actually fell asleep on the train.’
    • ‘My mom wound it up every night and it plinked its way though the melody until I fell asleep.’
    • ‘I fell asleep on the train from Victoria to Brighton the other evening.’
    • ‘At about three or four that morning, I dropped my book and fell asleep.’
    • ‘After he fell asleep, I sat on the bed and just spent a couple of minutes looking at him.’
    sleeping, fast asleep, sound asleep, slumbering, napping, catnapping, dozing, resting, reposing, drowsing, dormant, comatose
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    1. 1.1Not attentive or alert; inactive.
      ‘the competition was not asleep’
      • ‘Matt was both alert and asleep at the same time, the feeling one gets when one spends the entire night awake drinking coffee.’
      • ‘I felt like a part of my brain was numb or asleep, but at the same time liberated.’
      • ‘I asked quite silly and half asleep what he was doing home again when he sort of mouped that it was all closed and no one was there.’
      inactive, inert, latent, fallow, passive, idle, at rest, inoperative, deactivated, in abeyance, quiet
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    2. 1.2(of a limb) having no feeling; numb.
      ‘his legs were asleep’
      • ‘It didn't feel so good at the time - my legs were still asleep and came slowly to life on the treadmill.’
      • ‘Then I realized that my left foot was completely asleep and I could not move it or feel it at all.’
      • ‘It's the fancy medical term for that nasty tingling that crawls up your leg when your foot's asleep.’
      • ‘Her hand had fallen asleep as it clutched her blanket around her shoulders.’
      • ‘Piper and Blair found a bench to sit down at while rubbed my leg which had fallen asleep on the ride up.’
      • ‘Brayden woke with a crick in his neck, his arm asleep and the blankets too warm about him.’
      • ‘Then he would ask for her to help him to stand up, because his legs had fallen asleep.’
      numb, numbed, benumbed, dead, deadened, desensitized, insensible, insensate, senseless, unfeeling
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    3. 1.3literary Used euphemistically to indicate that someone is dead.
      • ‘The dead lie asleep, but in the second coming they shall be awakened from their graves and clothed in new skin.’
      dead, expired, departed, gone, no more, passed on, passed away
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Phrases

    asleep at the wheel
    informal

    • Not attentive or alert.

      • ‘let's hope the regulators are not asleep at the wheel’
      • ‘someone must have been asleep at the switch to allow this’
      • ‘We've been asleep at the wheel for over forty years, folks.’
      • ‘Nor were our political leaders the only ones asleep at the switch.’
      • ‘We must have been asleep at the switch, and so we have to revamp our intelligence structure from the ground up.’
      • ‘As for extras, someone was asleep at the wheel on this disc.’
      • ‘The software giant has been quiet in the news business for some time, but don't assume the industry leader is asleep at the wheel.’