somnambulist

American  

[som-nam-byuh-list, suhm-] / sɒmˈnæm byəˌlɪst, səm- /

noun

1. a person who walks around, eats, or performs other motor acts while asleep; sleepwalker.

   I have slept on the march like a somnambulist, and I have slept standing up like a horse.

2. a person who seems to act without awareness, feeling, aim, or will.

   Most people go through much of their lives as somnambulists, unaware of themselves and unquestioning of their environment.

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Other Word Forms

• semisomnambulistic adjective
• somnambulistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of somnambulist

First recorded in 1780–90; somn- ( def. ) + Latin ambul- ( amble ( def. ) ) + -ist ( def. )

Example Sentences

“He’s a somnambulist. We’ve got to meet with Detective Webster and Mr. Pinkerton immediately. Get dressed as fast as you can and tell Mrs. Drysdale I’m recovered enough for a brief stroll into town.”

From Literature

It’s a perfect beginning to this kind of somnambulist theater, where the subconscious is the star, trying to make sense of everyday anxieties and concerns while life has been irrevocably changed by a global pandemic.

From New York Times

The somnambulist provided an early role for Conrad Veidt, the German officer in Casablanca.

From The Guardian

I’m a confabulating somnambulist, a bundle of reflexes, twitches and compulsions with no self-knowledge, let alone self-control.

From Scientific American

But you know there the person is the somnambulist, a sleepwalker.

From The New Yorker