sleepwalk
Americanverb (used without object)
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sleepwalks,
present (3rd person singular)
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sleepwalked,
past participle, past
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sleepwalking
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sleepwalksimple
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sleepwalkssimple
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have sleepwalkedperfect
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has sleepwalkedperfect
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am sleepwalkingprogressive
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are sleepwalkingprogressive
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is sleepwalkingprogressive
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have been sleepwalkingperfect progressive
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has been sleepwalkingperfect progressive
Past
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sleepwalkedsimple
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had sleepwalkedperfect
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was sleepwalkingprogressive
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were sleepwalkingprogressive
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had been sleepwalkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sleepwalk
First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from sleepwalking
Explanation
To sleepwalk is to walk around despite being sound asleep. If you wake up outside in your PJ's, then, chances are, you were sleepwalking. A fancier word for sleepwalk is sonamubulate, and the act of sleepwalking is known as sonambulism by doctors who study and treat sleep disorders. It's considered a disorder to sleepwalk because normally your sleeping brain keeps you from performing actions like walking (even when you dream that you're walking). In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, there is a famous scene in which Lady Macbeth sleepwalks because of her guilty conscience.
Vocabulary lists containing sleepwalk
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 the fifth set—the scene of so many Djokovic comebacks—Djokovic could do little more than sleepwalk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Although this recipe does involve more moves than, say, sleepwalk chicken and vegetables, it’s still blissfully easy.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2024
Perhaps cognizant that he needs to sleepwalk through a couple more interviews before the primary on March 5, Garvey has subjected himself to short TV segments of late.
From Slate ● Feb. 5, 2024
The Kings cannot continue to expect to sleepwalk in the first period and come back later against the Oilers who have edges in scoring, skill and size.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2023
They did not insist, because of both her extreme sensitivity and her tendency to sleepwalk whenever her imagination ran away with her.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
When Lady Macbeth sleepwalks into her culpable death, the most moving aspect is the gruff way her husband moves on with his business.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2024
She sleepwalks, talks to herself and dreads the ringing phone because the caller, “no matter the voice, will not be the voice.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 2020
Pryor sleepwalks through his role as Monty Brewster, a pitcher for the minor-league Hackensack Bulls who would’ve been far better off staying with Bingo Long’s Traveling All-Stars.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 9, 2019
Although Kendrick’s pint-size dynamo once pushed the Bellas beyond their la-la-la comfort zone, she basically sleepwalks through this third go-round.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2017
"The person who sleepwalks will appear to be awake but they're really not. And we know this from monitoring their brainwaves," he says.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2017
She must have heard him cry, sleepwalked to the nursery, lifted him out of the crib while she was still asleep, then woke to discover the crib empty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
In a contest that started at 11:15 a.m. local time, Maryland sleepwalked through the first 10 minutes.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
The Trailblazers sleepwalked to a 101-49 win over Alemany without them and junior Isaiah Elohim, who was also nursing a knee injury.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2023
It began in 1914, when, as he notes, Europe’s leaders sleepwalked into a conflict that none of them would have entered if they’d foreseen the consequences four years later.
From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2022
He became so attached to his mistress that when she sleepwalked through the house the dog followed imitating her posture.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
“People are kind of sleepwalking into disaster,” Nestler said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
"But we seem to be sleepwalking into a conclusion that will result in the next owner of Thames Water - having, doubtless, many attributes - having none of these attributes."
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
On a never-ending feed we watch the cute and profane, sleepwalking toward an emotional state beyond shock as entertainment: the banality of passive consumption.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
More recently, he has warned that the country is sleepwalking into economic stasis, thanks to bad policies and rules that make it hard to invest in new ventures and run companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
There he stood motionless for a long time, managing to stay erect as if he were sleepwalking, still not understanding what was happening and tormented by the screams coming through the walls.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
