slumber
Americanverb (used without object)
-
slumbers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slumbered,
past participle, past
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slumbering
present participle
-
to sleep, especially lightly; doze; drowse.
-
to be in a state of inactivity, negligence, quiescence, or calm.
Vesuvius is slumbering.
verb (used with object)
-
slumbers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slumbered,
past participle, past
-
slumbering
present participle
-
to spend or pass (time) in slumbering (often followed by away, out, orthrough ).
to slumber the afternoon away.
-
to dispel or forget by slumbering (often followed byaway ).
to slumber cares away.
noun
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slumbers
plural
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Sometimes slumbers. sleep, especially light sleep.
-
a period of sleep, especially light sleep.
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a state of inactivity, quiescence, etc.
verb
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(intr) to sleep, esp peacefully
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(intr) to be quiescent or dormant
-
to spend (time) sleeping
noun
-
(sometimes plural) sleep
-
a dormant or quiescent state
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slumbersimple
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slumberssimple
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have slumberedperfect
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has slumberedperfect
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am slumberingprogressive
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are slumberingprogressive
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is slumberingprogressive
-
have been slumberingperfect progressive
-
has been slumberingperfect progressive
Past
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slumberedsimple
-
had slumberedperfect
-
was slumberingprogressive
-
were slumberingprogressive
-
had been slumberingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slumber
1175–1225; (v.) Middle English slumeren, frequentative of slumen to doze, derivative of Old English slūma sleep ( see -er 6); compare German schlummern; (noun) Middle English slomur, slomber, derivative of the v.
Explanation
Slumber means "sleep" — as a verb or noun. If you're a sound sleeper, you might slumber peacefully right through a thunderstorm, your slumber undisturbed. To slumber is to sleep, sometimes specifically to sleep lightly or doze. You can slumber in your bed, in your airplane seat, or through your alarm in the morning. Slumber can also describe a peacefulness, like your quiet street that seems to slumber early in the morning. The phrase slumber party was first used in the 1940s to mean a gathering held at night, that usually involves very little slumbering.
Vocabulary lists containing slumber
Beowulf vocabulary
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The Blood of Olympus
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Nehru's "Tryst with Destiny" Speech
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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 idea of hosting a slumber party, she said, was inspired in part by the 2006 movie “Night at the Museum,” except with cats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
But in the 1985 novel told from his point of view, he’s reborn as a rock star, emerging from a long, depressive slumber just in time to seduce the MTV generation.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
The clinical standard for measuring slumber is an in-lab overnight study, or a polysomnogram.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Record sightings have been reported again this year as the bears emerge from their winter slumber, according to local media.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
I drift away into a deep, salty-teared slumber.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
As the sun still slumbers early Monday, patches of dense fog are cloaking parts of Puget Sound and the southwest interior, including areas in and around Tacoma, Bellevue, Seattle and Bremerton.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 16, 2023
As his successor Major Burns continues in the role, it is unclear how often his daily performance will be waking a monarch from his slumbers.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2022
When the wind blows over the nearby Salton Sea, wind chimes serenade as Slab City slumbers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2021
Ghosts of an ailing industry surround Gravitricity’s test site: A supply vessel serving North Sea oil rigs slumbers nearby.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 22, 2021
After this one, he touches my solar plexus with his outspread hand, adding, “What slumbers in the heart is what slumbers in the stone, understand?”
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
Hundreds of older people slumbered on thin mats on the hard lobby floor at a community centre in Uki city.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Parts of him that had long slumbered were waking up.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2025
Before Page Dickey and Francis Bosco Schell spent a single night in their house in northwestern Connecticut, clay pots of flower bulbs slumbered there, setting down roots in a space of their own.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 20, 2023
While RSV and influenza slumbered these past few years, society was learning an unprecedented amount about their behavior and the effect public health actions have on them.
From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2022
The bookshelves with their neatly ordered manuscripts slumbered in the shadows, while overhead pale moonlight wafted through the stained glass windows, lighting on the bronze statues of past Librarians standing vigil over the galleries.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Treasury debt is a slumbering giant that is starting to stir.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
"The border with Lithuania is in 30 minutes," the assistant shouted to rouse slumbering passengers.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2025
Shortly before 01:00 BST on 16 October, the slumbering streets of Benwell were rent by the roar of an enormous explosion.
From BBC ● May 14, 2025
Or a small, scrunched face slumbering in a stroller.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2025
Percy remembered what Juno had said—-for months he has been slumbering, but now he is awake.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
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.
