sleepwalker

[ sleep-waw-ker ]

noun

1. a person who walks, eats, or performs other motor acts while asleep and is unaware of doing so upon awakening; a person with a disorder characterized by this:

   A sleepwalker may do something that could cause injury, such as climbing out of a window or walking into objects.

2. a person who acts seemingly without awareness, feeling, aim, or will:

   My parents were sleepwalkers, moving about their world as if oblivious to it and to themselves.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sleepwalker¹

sleep + walker

Example Sentences

I go outside in my pajamas like a sleepwalker to retrieve my L.A.

From Los Angeles Times

In RBD, the affected person is rather restless at the end of the night, is generally more than 50 years old and does not get out of bed, whereas a sleepwalker often wanders around the house and is often much younger.

From Scientific American

For her Sleepwalker, Phelan found inspiration in “Jane Eyre” and the character of Bertha Mason, the first wife of Edward Rochester who is locked away.

From New York Times

In “La Sonnambula,” a Poet becomes captivated by a Sleepwalker, a beautiful woman — or spirit — who appears in a flowing white dress holding a lighted candle as she skims across the stage en pointe.

From New York Times

“There are so many ideas out there of who the Sleepwalker is,” she said.

From New York Times