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:
The MLS started play seven weeks ago but apparently someone forgot to tell the Galaxy, who continue to sleepwalk through a season that is rapidly slipping away from them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2026
They could sleepwalk their way through the first three quarters and still pull it out in the end.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026
As they’ve done the past two seasons, it appears Phils will be content to sleepwalk through the early portion of the season, then power up in the season’s second half.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 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
Unfortunately, this theory would also retroactively outlaw choreograph, diagnose, resurrect, edit, sculpt, sleepwalk, and hundreds of other verbs that have become completely unexceptionable.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
He sleepwalks through this film in more ways than one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 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
Playing a renegade good guy is right up Wahlberg’s alley and to say he sleepwalks down that alley this time isn’t too harsh.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 4, 2020
"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
He said he lost 18 pounds while behind bars, and his wife said he still sleepwalks, checking the bedroom door for air as if he is still in a cell.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2017
The trauma of that experience was probably far deeper and more injurious than we wanted to admit, so we just sort of sleepwalked as events cascaded around us, feeling emotionally distanced and impotent.
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2026
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
Nation-states have sleepwalked into war against their better judgments, and the same could be true of states within states.
From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2024
During her evidence, Lady Foster rejected suggestions the Northern Ireland Executive "sleepwalked" into the pandemic.
From BBC ● May 21, 2024
So that whole morning, while I basically sleepwalked though science, math, ELA, and Spanish, I couldn’t stop replaying the scene in the band room.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
Hate that first-day sleepwalking feeling after an overnight flight to Europe?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Baroness Sheehan, the committee chair, said: "England is at risk of sleepwalking into serious water scarcity if the government does not act now to safeguard the water system."
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
“People are kind of sleepwalking into disaster,” Nestler said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 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
My feet dragged like a sleepwalking zombie’s across the plush carpet over to Fig’s bathroom.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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