somnolent

comparative more somnolent · superlative most somnolent

1. Drowsy or sleepy.

   One minute she was gazing at a mockup of a space capsule, safely surrounded by old, somnolent men; […]

   1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 4, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 60

   2 more examples

   […]; and in chronicling the passing parade of Harry's life, the books have also created a Kodachrome-sharp picture of American life - the psychic ups and downs, enthusiasms and reversals experienced by this nation as it moved from the somnolent 50's through the upheavals of the 60's and 70's into the uncertainties of the 80's.

   1990 September 25, Michiko Kakutani, “Just 30 Years Later, Updike Has a Quartet”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   My tiger is deep in somnolent sleep dreaming of chases remembered! His keen eyes are glinting! He dreams of a sprinting sambar who'll soon be dismembered!

   1992 April 1, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic)

   Synonyms: sleepbound, somniculous, adrowse, bedroomy, dozy, dopey, dragging one's tail, drowsy

2. datedCausing literal or figurative sleepiness.

   As she reached toward the last few fiddleheads growing on the second hummock, her hand froze. She heard the somnolent buzzing of flies again.

   1999, Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

   Synonyms: soporific, dormitive, hypnic, hypnotic, slumberous, somniferous, somnific, soporiferous