sleeping C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈslipɪŋ/ UK /ˈsliːpɪŋ/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj being asleep, or temporarily inactive or dormant They tiptoed past the sleeping infant. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · being asleep, or... dormantasleepinactiveslumberingrestinglatent ↔ Opposites awakeactivewaking Word family Related forms sleepsleeperasleep Appears in Phrases (1) See all sleeping tablet a small solid medicine intended to help a person fall asleep Noun + noun Idioms (1) See all sleeping giant a large, powerful player that has not yet fully engaged in a market Proverbs (3) See all Never wake a sleeping lion There will be sleeping enough in the grave let sleeping dogs lie To avoid raising an old issue that could cause trouble. Etymology AI details The present participle of sleep, from Old English slæpan ('to sleep'), from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną. slæpan Old English *slēpaną Proto-Germanic View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # sleeping **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈslipɪŋ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈsliːpɪŋ/ ## Meanings 1. being asleep, or temporarily inactive or dormant ## Examples - They tiptoed past the sleeping infant. ## Synonyms - dormant - asleep - inactive - slumbering - resting - latent ## Antonyms - awake - active - waking ## Related Forms - sleep - sleeper - asleep ## Roots and Affixes - Root: slæpan - Root: *slēpaną ## Etymology The present participle of sleep, from Old English slæpan ('to sleep'), from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną. ## AI Etymology Sleeping is the present participle of sleep, from Old English slæpan ('to sleep'), from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną. The historical chain includes Old English slæpan and Proto-Germanic *slēpaną. The quoted older sense, "to sleep," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for sleeping. The formation is best read as participial and borrowed: the word sleeping carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "being asleep, or temporarily inactive or dormant". Related English forms include sleep, sleeper, and asleep. The result is a adj and noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown