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Synonyms

fall asleep

Idioms  

  1. Go to sleep; also, cease paying attention. For example, As soon as the lights were dimmed he fell asleep, or His lectures are so dull that I fall asleep. The literal usage, which uses the verb fall in the sense of “succumb,” dates from about 1300; the figurative is several centuries newer. Also see asleep at the switch.

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.

“You feel like you’re never done. ... We wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning. Do as much as we can. Fall asleep around midnight.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2025

Fall asleep with ease thanks to the Emilie Hoyt-founded, Pasadena-based brand’s aromatherapeutic Silent Night Gift Set, which includes a lavender bath bomb, pillow mist, relaxing balm, and silk eye mask.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 2020

Fall asleep on the new, frisky Cowboys, and they will draw on your face with a Magic Marker.

From New York Times • Dec. 10, 2010

In sweet music is such art, Killing-care and grief-of-heart Fall asleep, or hearing, die.

From English Songs and Ballads by Crosland, T. W. H. (Thomas William Hodgson)

Fall asleep she did, however, and she must have slept for at least half an hour, perhaps longer.

From Cabin Fever by Bower, B. M.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.