Phrasal Verbs Related to Sleep

Learning phrasal verbs related to sleep will help you talk about bedtime routines, tiredness, waking up and staying awake more naturally in English. In this lesson, you will learn 12 useful sleep phrasal verbs, including wake up, get up, stay up, doze off, sleep in, sleep over and sleep on it, with clear meanings, natural example sentences and a quiz.

Sleep is part of everyday life, so sleep-related phrasal verbs are very common in English. We use them when we talk about going to bed, waking up, staying awake late, sleeping longer than usual, or falling asleep without meaning to.

Some of these expressions are easy to understand, such as wake up and get up. Others are more idiomatic, such as sleep on it, which has nothing to do with sleeping on a bed!

Let’s look at 12 useful phrasal verbs related to sleep.

1. Wake up

Meaning: to stop sleeping and become awake.

• I usually wake up at seven o’clock.
• She woke up suddenly when she heard a noise downstairs.
• Please don’t wake me up early tomorrow. I need some rest.

Common structure:

• wake up
• wake someone up

Examples:

• I woke up at six.
• The alarm woke me up.

Note: Wake up does not always mean you get out of bed. You can wake up and still stay in bed.

2. Get up

Meaning: to get out of bed after sleeping.

• What time do you usually get up on weekdays?
• I got up early this morning because I had a lot to do.
• He wakes up at seven, but he doesn’t usually get up until half past seven.

Wake up vs get up

There is a small but important difference:

• wake up = stop sleeping
• get up = leave the bed

Example:

• I woke up at 6.30, but I didn’t get up until 7.15.

3. Stay up

Meaning: to not go to bed; to remain awake later than usual.

• We stayed up late watching a film.
• I can’t stay up all night like I did when I was a teenager.
• She stayed up to finish her homework.

Common phrase: 

stay up late

Example:

• I stayed up late last night, so I’m exhausted today.

4. Doze off

Meaning: to fall asleep lightly, often without meaning to.

• Sandra dozed off while watching TV.
• I dozed off on the train and nearly missed my stop.
• He dozed off during the meeting because he was so tired.

Note: This usually happens when you are sitting somewhere, not when you have planned to go to bed.

5. Nod off

Meaning: to fall asleep for a short time, especially while sitting.

• The film was so dull that Mary nodded off.
• Simon nodded off during the meeting. It was so embarrassing.
• Grandpa nodded off in his armchair after lunch.

Doze off vs nod off

These two phrasal verbs are very similar.

Nod off often suggests that your head drops forward because you are falling asleep.

6. Drop off

Meaning: to fall asleep, especially gradually or lightly.

• I was so tired that I dropped off during the documentary.
• It took me ages to drop off last night.
• When you suffer from insomnia, you may find it difficult to drop off.

Be careful: Drop off can also mean to take someone somewhere and leave them there.

• I’ll drop you off at the station.
• I dropped off during the film.

The meaning depends on the context.

7. Crash out

Meaning: to fall asleep quickly because you are extremely tired.

• I was so tired that I just crashed out on the sofa.
• After a long day at work, all he wanted to do was go home and crash out.
• We got back from the trip and crashed out immediately.

Note: This phrasal verb is informal and conversational.

8. Sleep in

Meaning: to sleep later than usual in the morning.

• I’m going to sleep in tomorrow because it’s Saturday.
• Paula was looking forward to her holiday because she could sleep in every morning.
• We slept in until ten o’clock.

Note: In American English, sleep in is very common. British speakers understand it too.

9. Lie in

Meaning: to stay in bed later than usual in the morning.

• It’s Saturday tomorrow, so I can lie in.
• When I was a child, I loved lying in at weekends.
• I’m looking forward to a proper lie-in on Sunday.

British English note:

Lie in is very common in British English.

You can say:

• I’m going to lie in tomorrow.
• I’m going to have a lie-in tomorrow.

10. Catch up on sleep

Meaning: to sleep more because you have not had enough sleep recently.

• I’ve been studying hard all week. I need to catch up on sleep.
• Peter has finished his report, so now he can catch up on some sleep.
• After the busy conference, she spent the weekend catching up on sleep.

Common phrase:

catch up on some sleep

• I’m exhausted. I really need to catch up on some sleep.

11. Sleep over

Meaning: to sleep at someone else’s home for one night.

• Can Fiona sleep over tonight? We want to do our Maths homework together.
• The children are sleeping over at their friends’ house.
• When we were teenagers, we often slept over at each other’s houses.

Related noun:

a sleepover = a visit where someone, especially a child or teenager, stays overnight at a friend’s house

• My daughter is having a sleepover on Friday.

12. Sleep on it

Meaning: to delay making a decision until the next day so that you can think about it more carefully.

• I’m not sure whether to accept the offer. I’ll sleep on it and tell you tomorrow.
• You don’t have to decide now. Sleep on it and let me know in the morning.
• It’s an important decision, so you should sleep on it.

Note: This expression is idiomatic. It does not literally mean sleeping on something.

Quick review

Here are the 12 phrasal verbs from the lesson:

wake up	stop sleeping
get up	get out of bed
stay up	remain awake later than usual
doze off	fall asleep lightly, often unintentionally
nod off	fall asleep briefly while sitting
drop off	fall asleep
crash out	fall asleep quickly because you are very tired
sleep in	sleep later than usual
lie in	stay in bed later than usual
catch up on sleep	sleep more because you have not slept enough
sleep over	sleep at someone else’s house
sleep on it	think about a decision overnight

Take the quiz: phrasal verbs related to sleep

Now that you have learned these phrasal verbs related to sleep, try the quiz below to test your knowledge.

The quiz will help you practise the meanings and learn how to use these phrasal verbs naturally in everyday English.

Final thoughts on phrasal verbs related to sleep

Phrasal verbs are an important part of natural English. If you want to sound more fluent, it is useful to learn them in groups, such as phrasal verbs about sleep, work, travel, communication or daily routines.

Try using a few of these sleep phrasal verbs in your own sentences today. For example:

• I stayed up late last night.
• I need to catch up on sleep.
• I’ll sleep on it and decide tomorrow.
• I woke up early, but I didn’t get up immediately.

The more you use them, the more natural they will feel.

Related posts:

Sleep Vocabulary and Expressions in English 

Sleeping and Dreaming Expressions in English

Phrasal Verbs for Daily Routines 

30 Idioms about Daily Routines 

50 Collocations with Get in Context 

Phrasal Verbs with Up 

100 Phrasal Verbs for Everyday Use + PDF

Visit our bookshop for more