Meaning & use
slept through the night
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
Slept continuously from bedtime until morning without waking up at all.
Grammar: Used as a complete verb phrase: the subject comes before it, as in "She slept through the night."
Patterns
- someone slept through the night
- slept through the night for the first time
- finally slept through the night
Our daughter finally slept through the night when she was five months old.
I was so tired after the flight that I slept through the night without moving.
He slept through the night for the first time last week, and we celebrated.
phrasefixed phrase
Said of a baby who no longer wakes up to be fed or comforted during the night.
Grammar: Often used with adverbs like "finally" or "still not"; the negative form is "hasn't slept through the night yet."
Patterns
- a baby slept through the night
- hasn't slept through the night yet
- started sleeping through the night
The book promises to help your baby sleep through the night by three months.
She hasn't slept through the night yet, so we take turns getting up.
Once he slept through the night, we all felt like new people.
Common combinations
- slept through the night for the first time
- He slept through the night for the first time on his half-birthday.
- finally slept through the night
- After weeks of short naps, the baby finally slept through the night.
- slept through the night without waking
- She slept through the night without waking once.
- hasn't slept through the night yet
- Our son hasn't slept through the night yet, so we are always tired.
- help a baby sleep through the night
- Gentle routines can help a baby sleep through the night.
Synonyms and how they differ
- slept soundly
- Focuses on the depth of sleep rather than on lasting all night; you can sleep soundly for two hours.
- slept like a log
- Informal and emphasizes deep, unbroken sleep; it does not mention how long the sleep lasted.
- slept in
- Means getting up later than usual in the morning, which is different from not waking during the night.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: slept through the night or slept in? slept through the night or slept on it?
slept through the night vs slept in
"Slept in" means you got up later than usual; "slept through the night" means you did not wake up between bedtime and morning.
slept through the night vs slept on it
"Slept on it" means you waited until the next day before deciding; it says nothing about how well you slept.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase means sleeping from bedtime until morning without waking, so a baby or tired person doing this "for the first time" fits. Option 1 is wrong because a short nap at a desk is not a whole night, option 2 reverses the meaning, and option 3 uses "to" as if it were a movement verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “slept through the night”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.