sleepwalk
Americanverb (used without object)
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sleepwalks,
present (3rd person singular)
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sleepwalked,
past participle, past
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sleepwalking
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sleepwalksimple
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sleepwalkssimple
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have sleepwalkedperfect
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has sleepwalkedperfect
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am sleepwalkingprogressive
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are sleepwalkingprogressive
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is sleepwalkingprogressive
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have been sleepwalkingperfect progressive
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has been sleepwalkingperfect progressive
Past
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sleepwalkedsimple
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had sleepwalkedperfect
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was sleepwalkingprogressive
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were sleepwalkingprogressive
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had been sleepwalkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sleepwalk
First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from sleepwalking
Explanation
To sleepwalk is to walk around despite being sound asleep. If you wake up outside in your PJ's, then, chances are, you were sleepwalking. A fancier word for sleepwalk is sonamubulate, and the act of sleepwalking is known as sonambulism by doctors who study and treat sleep disorders. It's considered a disorder to sleepwalk because normally your sleeping brain keeps you from performing actions like walking (even when you dream that you're walking). In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, there is a famous scene in which Lady Macbeth sleepwalks because of her guilty conscience.
Vocabulary lists containing sleepwalk
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The MLS started play seven weeks ago but apparently someone forgot to tell the Galaxy, who continue to sleepwalk through a season that is rapidly slipping away from them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2026
They could sleepwalk their way through the first three quarters and still pull it out in the end.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026
"The lack of screening meant we were allowed to believe everything was fine and sleepwalk into a situation where I was clearly pregnant to all of those around me," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2024
As they’ve done the past two seasons, it appears Phils will be content to sleepwalk through the early portion of the season, then power up in the season’s second half.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
Unfortunately, this theory would also retroactively outlaw choreograph, diagnose, resurrect, edit, sculpt, sleepwalk, and hundreds of other verbs that have become completely unexceptionable.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
The supernatural flashback chapters of Dunia’s sleepwalks unpeel the layers of trapped family secrets that land Dunia in her present condition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
She sleepwalks, talks to herself and dreads the ringing phone because the caller, “no matter the voice, will not be the voice.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 2020
"The person who sleepwalks will appear to be awake but they're really not. And we know this from monitoring their brainwaves," he says.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2017
He said he lost 18 pounds while behind bars, and his wife said he still sleepwalks, checking the bedroom door for air as if he is still in a cell.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2017
Team sleepwalks through a season in which it gets off to 1-10 start, during which Williams says: “That doom and gloom stuff ain’t going to cut it with me. … Next question.”
From Washington Times ● Nov. 8, 2014
She must have heard him cry, sleepwalked to the nursery, lifted him out of the crib while she was still asleep, then woke to discover the crib empty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
During her evidence, Lady Foster rejected suggestions the Northern Ireland Executive "sleepwalked" into the pandemic.
From BBC ● May 21, 2024
In a contest that started at 11:15 a.m. local time, Maryland sleepwalked through the first 10 minutes.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
It began in 1914, when, as he notes, Europe’s leaders sleepwalked into a conflict that none of them would have entered if they’d foreseen the consequences four years later.
From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2022
She sleepwalked through the morning, unable to think of anything but closing her eyes.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
“People are kind of sleepwalking into disaster,” Nestler said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
“Myanmar appears to be sleepwalking into China’s sphere of influence,” the ISP-Myanmar team wrote in an annual report published in January.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
On a never-ending feed we watch the cute and profane, sleepwalking toward an emotional state beyond shock as entertainment: the banality of passive consumption.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
"But we seem to be sleepwalking into a conclusion that will result in the next owner of Thames Water – having, doubtless, many attributes – having none of these attributes."
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
Her eyes were closed, as if she were sleepwalking.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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