soporific
Americanadjective
-
causing or tending to cause sleep.
-
pertaining to or characterized by sleep or sleepiness; sleepy; drowsy.
noun
-
soporifics
plural
adjective
-
inducing sleep
-
drowsy; sleepy
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of soporific
1655–65; < Latin sopor sopor + -i- + -fic; compare French soporifique
Explanation
Something that is soporific is sleep-inducing. Certain medicines, but also extreme coziness, can have a soporific effect. In the 1680’s, soporific, which doubles as both adjective and noun, was formed from the French soporifique. That word, in turn, came from the Latin sopor “deep sleep.” Beloved Peter Rabbit author Beatrix Potter once noted that, “It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is 'soporific'."
Vocabulary lists containing soporific
Jane Eyre
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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 6
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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:
In the soporific Irish midlands, Marty Hawkins is reminded that “fields breed fatalism,” which suits his mood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
The change has been introduced after a soporific race in 2024 that followed years of growing concerns about the tendency towards uneventful grands prix on the historic streets on the Cote d'Azur.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
Musty retreads of Ibsen and Chekhov, besides being counter to the maverick spirit of their play, can be soporific endurance tests.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
It’s so effective a soporific that most nights I struggle to read for more than 10 minutes, which is both satisfying and maddening.
From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2024
By October San Piedro had slipped off its summer reveler’s mask to reveal a torpid, soporific dreamer whose winter bed was made of wet green moss.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
Exposure to sunlight prevents the brain from producing melatonin and other natural soporifics.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 23, 2016
Many of the antihistamines, intended to relieve allergies, are also prescribed as soporifics.
From Time Magazine Archive
At least these were incendiary devices; elsewhere one found soporifics.
From Time Magazine Archive
Kennedy unemotionally traced the misconceptions and the soporifics that lulled England during the prewar years.
From Time Magazine Archive
Converse has written many other hymn-tunes, which have taken their place among ecclesiastical soporifics.
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.
