hypnagogic
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to drowsiness.
-
inducing drowsiness.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of hypnagogic
First recorded in 1885–90; from French hypnagogique; hypn-, -agogue, -ic. See Hypnos
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.
His bubbling synth creations have been associated with so many microgenres, including hypnagogic pop, vaporwave and plunderphonic, that he’s come to invent some of his own, like his slowed-down, mantra-adjacent “eccojams.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2025
My main experience of it really was in the hypnagogic hallucinations.
From Salon • Feb. 6, 2024
Media Lab, who has devised technology to interact with hypnagogic states but did not collaborate with Oudiette’s team.
From Scientific American • Apr. 3, 2022
People who experience sleep paralysis also will often report hypnagogic hallucinations, or waking up and seeing something from their dream in their bedroom, Barrett said.
From Washington Post • Dec. 30, 2021
Its chest rose conspicuously and fell, as if the owl, in its hypnagogic state, had sighed.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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.
