Meaning & use

somnolent

adjective·Advanced

Feeling or causing sleepiness; drowsy and inclined to doze off.

See it in a sentence

The warm room and the professor's monotone voice made the whole class somnolent by mid-afternoon.

A somnolent haze settled over the village during the hottest hours of summer.

A note on using this word

Somnolent is a literary or formal word; use 'sleepy' or 'drowsy' in everyday speech.

Words with a similar meaning

drowsysleepylethargic

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

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