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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.

Mercurial and unreliable in the studio, Stewart would sometimes fall asleep on the couch during recording sessions or lie down in the vocal booth.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

He added: "Just the fact that I found it so normal, in a sad way, that it was okay to just put my head on the pillow and fall asleep."

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

“How do you fall asleep on one side of the community?”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2026

Many high school students find it hard to fall asleep early, which makes waking up for early morning classes a challenge.

From Science Daily • Mar. 11, 2026

The fairy waved a bit in response, then settled back to fall asleep.

From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley

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.