sleepless

[ sleep-lis ]

adjective

1. without sleep:

   a sleepless night.

2. watchful; alert:

   sleepless devotion to duty.

3. always active:

   the sleepless ocean.

sleepless

/ ˈsliːplɪs /

adjective

1. without sleep or rest

   a sleepless journey

2. unable to sleep
3. always watchful or alert
4. poetic.
   always active or moving

   the sleepless tides

Derived Forms

• ˈsleeplessly, adverb
• ˈsleeplessness, noun

Other Words From

• sleepless·ly adverb
• sleepless·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sleepless¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; sleep, -less

Example Sentences

The past four nights had been a sleepless blur as she watched the terror of Afghans desperate to escape all over television and social media—including her own family members.

From Time

All the fear and sleepless nights and being afraid of tomorrow and returning to detention.

From Time

It can be a great swap if you want to go really ultralight, but in buggy regions prone to mosquitoes, this may only result in a lot of sleepless nights.

From Popular-Science

That way, you’re set up and ready to go when the crazy sleepless nights begin.

From Popular-Science

Pregnancy exhausted me, and I barely made it through the initial sleepless months of having a newborn.

From Time

It was a sleepless night in Chechnya for two lawyers from the Russian town of Orenburg, Sergei Babinets and Dmitriy Dimitriyev.

From The Daily Beast

Mama, I understand your many sleepless nights / When you sit and think about father / Or how you tried to be the perfect wife.

From The Daily Beast

I blame a sleepless night or free drinks at a cocktail party.

From The Daily Beast

And behind the sleepless Moms will come binders full of freshly scrubbed lawyers looking to turn a buck on the news.

From The Daily Beast

Now we are learning that it is not just sleepless nights looking after Prince George that may have unsettled his mood.

From The Daily Beast

She moved slightly, like a dreamer in pain, as again she faced the creed she had hated through many a sleepless night.

From Project Gutenberg

So excited was he at the thought of the great honour that was to be his that he spent almost a sleepless night.

From Project Gutenberg

There were no more sleepless nights, fearing an attack from the dreaded rebel or the volunteer.

From Project Gutenberg

The story was brought to a proper and blissful conclusion; still Sue was sleepless.

From Project Gutenberg

They spent sleepless nights, and it was especially at such times that they would sing hymns.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fidgety