ZZZ
AmericanUsage
What does ZZZ mean? ZZZ is used to indicate that someone is sleeping or to represent the sound of snoring, especially in illustrations like comics and cartoons. ZZZ is also seen as zzz and in various other forms of capitalization and with a varying number of Z’s (such as ZzZzZ). It is now often used in texting and other written communication to refer to sleeping or boredom. Example: I thought Carla was going to come, but she just texted me “zzz,” so I guess she’s going to sleep.
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.
“Las Tres ZZZ moved out of the center years ago,” she says of Hemingway’s favorite brand and we vow to find them later.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
On our way out of town, we detour to the Las Tres ZZZ wineskin factory, just outside the center.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
To hear some viewers rip it, you’d have thought it was Super Bowl ZZZ.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2019
Pop culture's most ardent lyrical analysts have sweated blood to deduce internet-era ennui, political tub-thumping and Generation ZZZ rhetoric in the line: "We've got heads on sticks/You've got ventriloquists."
From The Guardian ● Oct. 11, 2010
Z ZZZ: Don't Let This Keep You Up In the beginning--that is, November 2005--there was a video game called Guitar Hero, in which players jammed on a fake plastic guitar along with real rock songs.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
