Meaning & use
sleep tight
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Meanings
phrasefixed phraseinformal
A friendly way of telling someone to have a good, deep sleep, said at bedtime.
Grammar: Used as a command or wish on its own: Sleep tight!
Patterns
- good night, sleep tight
- sleep tight, someone
Good night, sweetheart, sleep tight.
Sleep tight, everyone, and see you in the morning.
She kissed her son and whispered, 'Sleep tight.'
verbintransitiveliterary
To sleep soundly and deeply, without waking.
Grammar: Verb plus adverb, without an object: the baby slept tight all night; the adverb stays tight.
Patterns
- sleep tight through something
I hope you sleep tight tonight after such a long day.
The children slept tight until the alarm rang.
He could sleep tight anywhere, even on a bus.
Word forms
| third person singular | sleeps tight |
|---|---|
| past tense | slept tight |
| past participle | slept tight |
| present participle | sleeping tight |
Common combinations
- good night, sleep tight
- Good night, sleep tight, and I will see you at breakfast.
- sleep tight and sweet dreams
- Sleep tight and sweet dreams, little one.
- sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite
- Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite, he joked.
- hope you sleep tight
- I hope you sleep tight after the long flight.
- tell someone to sleep tight
- She told the kids to sleep tight and turned off the light.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sweet dreams
- Sweet dreams wishes pleasant dreams rather than deep sleep, and it is equally warm and informal.
- good night
- Good night is the standard neutral farewell at bedtime, while sleep tight adds a friendly wish for restful sleep.
- sleep well
- Sleep well is plain and slightly more formal, and has none of the cozy rhyme-like feel of sleep tight.
- rest easy
- Rest easy can comfort someone worried about danger or loss, so it has a wider use than the bedtime-only sleep tight.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: sleep tight or sleep tightly?
sleep tight vs sleep tightly
Sleep tightly is not the normal phrase; tight is used as an adverb in the set expression sleep tight, so the form with -ly sounds wrong.
Practice
What does a parent mean by saying 'Sleep tight' to a child at bedtime?
Choose one answer.
Sleep tight is a warm bedtime wish that the child will sleep soundly. It is not an instruction about blankets or timing.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sleep tight”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.