Meanings
plural sleep debts
- countableuncountableThe cumulative effect of not obtaining enough sleep, especially as seen as able to be made up for by sleeping more than usual.
Adenosine levels can be quickly righted after a few nights of good sleep, however. This gave rise to a scientific consensus that sleep debt could be forgiven with a couple of quality snoozes — as reflected in casual statements like “I’ll catch up on sleep” or “I’ll be more awake tomorrow.”
2022 June 24, Oliver Whang, “The Sleep Debt Collector Is Here”, in The New York Times, →ISSNSynonyms: sleep deficit
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe cumulative effect of not obtaining enough sleep, especially as seen as able to be made up for by sleeping more than usual.
Translations
Finnish univelka
- univelkacumulative effect of not enough sleep
German Schlafmangel
- Schlafmangelcumulative effect of not enough sleep
Japanese 睡眠負債
- 睡眠負債cumulative effect of not enough sleep
Korean 수면부채
- 수면부채 (sumyeonbuchae)cumulative effect of not enough sleep
Polish deficyt snu
- deficyt snucumulative effect of not enough sleep
Portuguese falta de sono
- falta de sonocumulative effect of not enough sleep
Cite this entry
sleep debt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sleep%20debt
“sleep debt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sleep%20debt. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sleep debt,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sleep%20debt.
Source: sleep debt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.