sleep-deprived

American  

[sleep-di-prahyvd] / ˈslip dɪˌpraɪvd /

adjective

1. affected by fatigue, weakness, impaired judgment, loss of mental alertness, etc., due to lack of sleep.

   I wasn’t going to wait in line overnight and then be in a store with 700 other sleep-deprived shoppers, any of whom could mentally snap and strangle me at any moment.

   If you know you’re going to have a sleep-deprived EEG, plan to have someone drive you to and from the test.

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Etymology

Origin of sleep-deprived

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

New research shows what happens in the sleep-deprived brain.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

Today I slept pretty good but usually I’m pretty sleep-deprived, overworked, and we’ve got a lot going on.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026

When someone is sleep-deprived, the body appears to try to make up for lost rest by triggering bursts of this fluid movement during wakefulness.

From Science Daily • Jan. 20, 2026

One reporter present at the meeting described the assembled billionaires as "pale and sleep-deprived".

From BBC • Dec. 27, 2025

Our sleep-deprived night could be seen in the circles under our eyes, and our stomachs rumbled with hunger, but we felt for the first time that our ordeal might soon be over.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall