doze
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to sleep lightly or fitfully.
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to fall into a light sleep unintentionally (often followed byoff ).
He dozed off during the sermon.
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to sleep for a short time; nap.
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to be dull or half asleep.
verb (used with object)
noun
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dozes
plural
verb (used with or without object)
verb
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to sleep lightly or intermittently
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(often foll by off) to fall into a light sleep
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of doze1
1640–50; originally (now obsolete) to stupefy, make drowsy; compare Scots, N England dialect dozened, Middle English ( Scots ) dosnyt, dosinnit stupefied, dazed; akin to Old Norse dūsa rest, Swedish dialect dusa doze, slumber, Middle Low German dusen to be thoughtless; cf. daze
Origin of doze2
First recorded in 1940–45; shortened form of bulldoze
Explanation
Are you sleepy? Maybe you need to doze a little. To doze is to sleep lightly or to take a nap. To doze is to just have a little sleep: either a short nap or a very light snooze. Since doze and snooze almost rhyme — and snoring sounds a little like ZZZZZZZZZZZ — the letter Z might be a good way to remember this word. Just make sure you don't "doze off" in class.
Vocabulary lists containing doze
The Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer
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Festival of Sleep Day
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The Voyage of the Frog
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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 a blaring nightclub in wartime Myanmar, partied-out revellers doze until dawn by the dancefloor, wary of journeying home despite the end of a post-coup curfew.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
As her rivals nervously shuffle in their boots, Shiffrin will clear space on the ground, fold a parka as a pillow, shut her blue eyes and doze off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
He even seemed to doze off at one point in the middle of a presentation by Dr. Mehmet Oz, who runs Medicare and Medicaid, in the Oval Office.
From Salon ● Nov. 9, 2025
When she did doze off, Dame Jacqueline said she wanted to sleep too but used the short window available to write.
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
His fingers go back to my hair and I doze off, but he rouses me to see the sunset.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
She struggles to fall asleep, her father said, and often asks him to stay by her side while she dozes off.
From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2024
He dozes off mid-conversation, putting the “nap” in “Napoleon.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
Footage released on Tuesday shows police officers conferring on how to arrest the suspect as he apparently dozes in a car with a running engine.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2023
Food and sleep will be put aside, except when someone dozes off in a seat or on a colleague’s shoulder.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2021
After an hour, Mama is lost in the music and Papa dozes in his chair.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
"Half past one, I was still awake, all still bright-eyed, and kind of bushy-tailed, and then I went horizontal and dozed off," she recalled.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
People dozed on station benches or sat on luggage on platforms as they waited for their trains.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
Through the night, several of them allegedly followed the southbound Brink’s truck, which was piloted by one driver while another dozed in the vehicle’s sleeping compartment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
She was home at 9 p.m. and quickly dozed off, but within hours, she woke her mother up.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2024
I had just about dozed off when, to my surprise, Daisy came into my room.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
The trouble at the back was revisited soon after, Andy Roberton having to make a lung-busting effort to throw himself in front of a point-blank shot from Zan Vipotnik after Hendry was caught dozing.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
He can often be seen sunning himself on the dock, with other sea lions dozing or barking away nearby.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
He’s been dozing off in meetings, which led Dick Cheney’s doctor to call for a medical evaluation.
From Slate ● Jan. 26, 2026
Instances where he appears to be dozing off are just moments of relaxation, he said.
From Barron's ● Jan. 1, 2026
We were halfway down the hill, with Quinby dozing happily in the wheelbarrow, when I heard noises in the trees to my right.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
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.
