somnambulism
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of somnambulism
First recorded in 1790–1800; from French somnambulisme, from New Latin somnambulismus, equivalent to somn(us) “sleep” + ambul(āre) “to walk” + -ismus -ism
Explanation
Somnambulism is sleepwalking. Some people have managed to walk around their neighborhood without even knowing it because of somnambulism. The roots of this word — somn and amublate — are related to sleep and walking, and that's exactly what somnambulism is: walking in your sleep. Lots of people engage in somnambulism every night, usually harmlessly. Somnambulism can also include talking in your sleep and doing other activities.
Vocabulary lists containing somnambulism
Psychological Conditions and Disorders
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Psychology
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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.
London news organs distanced all others in advancing hypotheses: Daily Chronicle: "Somnambulism."
From Time Magazine Archive
Somnambulism might solve the second riddle, but to the first I could find no answer acceptable to my reason.
From Bat Wing by Rohmer, Sax
So strangely is Freedom, as we say, environed in Necessity; such a singular Somnambulism, of Conscious and Unconscious, of Voluntary and Involuntary, is this life of man.
From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas
The confusion of excitement led often to Somnambulism, which was not yet understood, and to belief in miracles.
From Pedagogics as a System by Brackett, Anna C. (Anna Callender)
Somnambulism was well known by the ancients; and Aristotle tells us, “there are individuals who rise in their sleep, and walk about seeing as clearly as those that are awake.”
From Curiosities of Medical Experience by Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
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.
