Phrase guide

fast asleep

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Synonym of sound asleep.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sound asleep

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

The original sense of fast in this term is the "firmly gripped or anchored" sense, thus as if stuck fast (embedded firmly) in sleep, but the homonymy with fast as in "quickly" happens to dovetail with the fact that a very tired person will archetypally fall asleep quickly, which tends to color this term with a connotation of falling asleep both quickly and deeply.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 沉睡 (chénshuì) — in a deep sleep
  • Chinese Mandarin: 熟睡 (shúshuì) — in a deep sleep
  • Dutch: als een blok slapen — in a deep sleep
  • Finnish: sikiunessa — in a deep sleep
  • Finnish: sikeässä unessa — in a deep sleep
  • German: in tiefem Schlaf — in a deep sleep
  • Romanian: într-un somn adânc — in a deep sleep
  • Yoruba: fọnfọn — in a deep sleep