somnambulist

[ som-nam-byuh-list, suhm- ]

noun

1. a person who walks around, eats, or performs other motor acts while asleep; sleepwalker:

   I have slept on the march like a somnambulist, and I have slept standing up like a horse.

2. a person who seems to act without awareness, feeling, aim, or will:

   Most people go through much of their lives as somnambulists, unaware of themselves and unquestioning of their environment.

Other Words From

• som·nam·bu·lis·tic [som-nam-by, uh, -, lis, -tik, s, uh, m-], adjective
• sem·i·som·nam·bu·lis·tic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of somnambulist¹

First recorded in 1780–90; somn- ( def ) + Latin ambul- ( amble ( def ) ) + -ist ( def )

Example Sentences

It’s a perfect beginning to this kind of somnambulist theater, where the subconscious is the star, trying to make sense of everyday anxieties and concerns while life has been irrevocably changed by a global pandemic.

From New York Times

The somnambulist provided an early role for Conrad Veidt, the German officer in Casablanca.

From The Guardian

I’m a confabulating somnambulist, a bundle of reflexes, twitches and compulsions with no self-knowledge, let alone self-control.

From Scientific American

But you know there the person is the somnambulist, a sleepwalker.

From The New Yorker

If these scenes of daylight somnambulists seem dreamlike, that is consistent with the idea that there is no time in the unconscious.

From New York Times