Saturday, July 09, 2005

Word of the Day for Friday July 8, 2000

somnolent \SOM-nuh-luhnt\, adjective:
1. Sleepy; drowsy; inclined to sleep.
2. Tending to cause sleepiness or drowsiness.

[I]n his case, restrained ultimately meant boring, as the
audience was lulled into a somnolent state.
--Teresa Wiltz, "The Hip, the Flip, the Flop,"
[1]Washington Post, March 3, 2000

Meanwhile, many a somnolent local authority has been
stirred into action by Davidson's blunt approach.
--John Lucas, "Memorials are made of these on the eve of
Remembrance Sunday," [2]Daily Telegraph, November 7, 1998

Back in the somnolent heat of Bangalore he wrote a
revealing novel entitled Savrola.
--David Stafford, [3]Churchill and Secret Service
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Somnolent is from Latin somnolentus, from somnus, "sleep." A
related word is insomnia (in-, "not" + somnus).

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