Meaning & use
nap
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Meanings
nouncountable
A short sleep, usually taken during the day.
Grammar: Often used with take or have: take a nap.
Patterns
- take a nap
- have a nap
- a nap after lunch
The baby takes a nap every afternoon.
I had a short nap on the train and woke up refreshed.
A twenty-minute nap can improve your focus.
verbintransitive
To sleep lightly for a short time, usually during the day.
Grammar: No object: she napped on the sofa.
Patterns
- nap on something
- nap for an hour
Grandpa naps in his chair after lunch.
The cat napped in a patch of sunlight.
We napped for an hour before dinner.
noununcountabletechnical
The short, soft raised fibers on the surface of fabric such as velvet, felt or carpet.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: brush the nap of the velvet.
Patterns
- against the nap
- with the nap
Stroke the velvet with the nap, not against it.
The old carpet had lost most of its nap.
Word forms
| plural | naps |
|---|---|
| third person singular | naps |
| past tense | napped |
| past participle | napped |
| -ing form | napping |
Common combinations
- take a nap
- I usually take a nap on Sunday afternoons.
- power nap
- A power nap at lunchtime helps him get through the day.
- afternoon nap
- The toddler needs an afternoon nap.
- catch a nap
- She caught a quick nap between meetings.
- short nap
- A short nap made the long drive easier.
- nap time
- Quiet please, it's nap time for the baby.
Synonyms and how they differ
- snooze
- Snooze is informal and often suggests a light, lazy doze, whereas nap is the neutral everyday word.
- doze
- Doze means drifting in and out of sleep, often by accident, while a nap is a deliberate short sleep.
- siesta
- Siesta is a nap taken after the midday meal, especially in hot countries, so it is narrower in time and culture.
- forty winks
- This is an old-fashioned British idiom for a short sleep, a humorous alternative to nap.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: nap or knap? nap or nape?
nap vs knap
Knap is a rare word meaning to chip stone, as in making flint tools; it sounds the same as nap but is spelled differently.
nap vs nape
Nape is the back of the neck; it sounds a little like nap but has a long a sound and a silent final e.
Practice
The baby was tired, so Mum put her down for a ___.
Choose one answer.
A nap is a short sleep, which fits a tired baby. Nape is the back of the neck and a tempting sound-alike, while knot and snap do not fit the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nap”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.