somniferous

American  

[som-nif-er-uhs, suhm-] / sɒmˈnɪf ər əs, səm- /

adjective

1. bringing or inducing sleep, as drugs or influences.

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somniferous British  

/ sɒmˈnɪfərəs /

adjective

1. rare tending to induce sleep

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Other Word Forms

• somniferously adverb

Etymology

Origin of somniferous

1595–1605; < Latin somnifer inducing sleep ( somni-, combining form of somnus sleep + -fer -fer ) + -ous

Explanation

Whether it's a medication or a boring lecture, something somniferous makes you sleepy. Like soporific, somniferous is a word used to describe something that puts you to sleep. Some people who have trouble snoozing take pills that are somniferous: sleeping pills. Others do somniferous things, like reading before bed or counting sheep. A bad public speaker can be really somniferous, and so can a boring movie. Anything somniferous makes you want to catch some Z's.

Example Sentences

Everyone was back in the Dolby Theatre, a welcome return after last year’s somniferous experiment from Steven Soderbergh, which was held in Los Angeles’s Union Station.

From Washington Post • Mar. 28, 2022

Still, it’s a somniferous situation for the photographers, who camp out in their cars for hours at a time for a few seconds of activity.

From New York Times • Jun. 1, 2019

About 15% sleep less than 6� hours, and a somniferous 15% slumber on for more than � hours.

From Time Magazine Archive

The princess, put to sleep by Horpyna with a decoction of somniferous herbs, did not wake; her eyelids merely trembled a little from the light of the torch.

From With Fire and Sword An Historical Novel of Poland and Russia. by Sienkiewicz, Henryk

In the same way I prefer Apollonius’s spell for soothing the dragon, as much terser and more somniferous than the spell put by Mr. Morris into the lips of Medea. 

From Adventures Among Books by Lang, Andrew