SLEEPING

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sleeping mean? 

• SLEEPING (noun)
  The noun SLEEPING has 3 senses:

1. the state of being asleep

2. quiet and inactive restfulness

3. the suspension of consciousness and decrease in metabolic rate

  Familiarity information: SLEEPING used as a noun is uncommon.

• SLEEPING (adjective)
  The adjective SLEEPING has 1 sense:

1. lying with head on paws as if sleeping

  Familiarity information: SLEEPING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SLEEPING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being asleep

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sleeping" is a kind of...):

sleep; slumber (a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended)

Meronyms (parts of "sleeping"):

dream; dreaming (a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep)

Antonym:

waking (the state of remaining awake)

Derivation:

sleep (be asleep)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Quiet and inactive restfulness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dormancy; quiescence; quiescency; sleeping

Hypernyms ("sleeping" is a kind of...):

ease; relaxation; repose; rest (freedom from activity (work or strain or responsibility))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sleeping"):

vegetation (inactivity that is passive and monotonous, comparable to the inactivity of plant life)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The suspension of consciousness and decrease in metabolic rate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sleeping" is a kind of...):

activity; bodily function; bodily process; body process (an organic process that takes place in the body)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sleeping"):

noctambulation; noctambulism; sleepwalking; somnambulation; somnambulism (walking by a person who is asleep)

sleep talking; somniloquism; somniloquy (uttering speech while asleep)

catnap; forty winks; light sleep; nap; short sleep; snooze (sleeping for a short period of time (usually not in bed))

doze; drowse (a light fitful sleep)

• SLEEPING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lying with head on paws as if sleeping

Synonyms:

dormant; sleeping

Similar:

unerect (not upright in position or posture)

Domain category:

heraldry (the study and classification of armorial bearings and the tracing of genealogies)

 Context examples 

Wearing activity and sleep monitors 24 hours a day, the 22 study participants also reported sleeping better, falling asleep faster, and even increased their sleep duration by 24 minutes a night.

(Artificial Light of Digital Devices Lessens Sleep Quality, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Let sleeping dogs lie—who wants to rouse 'em? I don't. Can't you see I am as umble as I can be?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Using this information, the scientists were able to study obesity and weight gain in women exposed to artificial light at night with women who reported sleeping in dark rooms.

(Sleeping with artificial light at night associated with weight gain in women, National Institutes of Health)

In fact, its supermassive central black hole is a sleeping giant, too.

(Hubble Surveys Gigantic Galaxy, NASA)

A man is but a beast as he lives from day to day, eating and drinking, breathing and sleeping.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Still hurrying along. The day has come, and Godalming is sleeping. I am on watch.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Holmes refused to examine the third chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her fate.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And as for this soldier, even if I had not given him his sleeping draught, he would have slept soundly enough.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He sprang through the sleeping camp and in swift silence dashed through the woods.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But he would cease sleeping in the sun.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)