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Sleepy vs Sleepless - What's the difference?

sleepy | sleepless |

As adjectives the difference between sleepy and sleepless

is that sleepy is tired; feeling the need for sleep while sleepless is characterized by an absence of sleep.

As a noun sleepy

is the gum that builds up in the eye.

sleepy

English

(wikipedia sleepy)

Adjective

(er)
  • Tired; feeling the need for sleep.
  • * Dryden
  • She wak'd her sleepy crew.
  • Suggesting tiredness.
  • * 1994 , (Stephen Fry), (The Hippopotamus) Chapter 2
  • At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorationsas the tree had recovered from the collision.
  • Tending to induce sleep; soporific.
  • a sleepy drink or potion
  • Dull; lazy; heavy; sluggish.
  • * William Shakespeare
  • 'Tis not sleepy business; / But must be looked to speedily and strongly.
  • Quiet; without bustle or activity.
  • a sleepy English village

    Synonyms

    * tired * See also

    Noun

    (-)
  • (informal) The gum that builds up in the eye
  • * 1964 , Ken Kesey, Sometimes a great notion
  • "Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?" "Never removed it; let it build up in the comers of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall...
  • * 1991 , Martin Amis, London fields
  • But the nightdress was heavy, the sleepy in her eyes was heavy, her hair (she made a mustache of one of its locks) was heavy and smelled of cigarettes...

    sleepless

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Characterized by an absence of sleep.
  • I spent a sleepless night worrying about the exams.

    Derived terms

    * sleeplessly * sleeplessness