Standard Lemma guide

oversleep

verb · 4 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /əʊvəˈsliːp/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /oʊvəɹˈslip/
  • rhymes with -iːp
  • CMU ARPABET: OW2 V ER0 S L IY1 P Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To sleep for longer than intended.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Examples

  • I overslept and was late for school.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To sleep for longer than one intended.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, reflexive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To sleep beyond (a given time), to sleep through (an event etc.).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • to oversleep one's usual hour of rising

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

sleep longer than intended

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- English sleep English oversleep From over- + sleep.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: اِسْتَغْرَقَ فِي النَّوْم (istaḡraqa fī an-nawm) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Azerbaijani: yatıb qalmaq — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Belarusian: праспа́ць (praspácʹ) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Bulgarian: успи́вам се (uspívam se) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Bulgarian: успя́ се (uspjá se) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Carpathian Rusyn: преспац (prespac) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Chinese Mandarin: 睡過頭 /睡过头 (shuìguòtóu) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Czech: zaspat — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Danish: sove over sig — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Dutch: zich verslapen — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Faroese: ovsova — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Faroese: sova yvir — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Finnish: nukkua pommiin — to sleep for longer than planned
  • French: trop dormir — to sleep for longer than planned
  • German: verschlafen — to sleep for longer than planned
  • German: verpennen — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Greek: παρακοιμάμαι (parakoimámai) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Hungarian: elalszik — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Icelandic: sofa yfir sig — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Italian: dormire troppo — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Japanese: 寝過ごす (nesugosu) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Japanese: 寝坊する (nebō suru) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Korean: 늦잠을 자다 (neutjam-eul jada) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Latvian: aizgulēties — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Lushootseed: ʔitutdubut — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Macedonian: се успие (se uspie) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Māori: moeroa — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forsove seg — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Polish: zasypiać — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Polish: zaspać — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Portuguese: dormir demais — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Portuguese: adormecer — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Russian: просыпа́ть (prosypátʹ) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Russian: проспа́ть (prospátʹ) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Serbo-Croatian: преспа́вати — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Serbo-Croatian: prespávati — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Slovak: zaspať — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Slovene: prespati — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Spanish: quedarse dormido — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Swedish: försova sig — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Turkish: uyuyakalmak — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Ukrainian: просипа́ти (prosypáty) — to sleep for longer than planned
  • Ukrainian: проспа́ти (prospáty) — to sleep for longer than planned