Word.ws English Dictionary

asleep at the switch

asleep at the switch adjective: neglectful of an important task, responsibility, or opportunity.

Adjective

asleep at the switch

  1. (idiomatic) Neglectful of an important task, responsibility, or opportunity.
    • His vote demonstrates that the people of Philadelphia are not asleep at the switch, are not indifferent to their political duties.1909, Clinton Rogers Woodruff, “Municipal Review 1907-1908,”, in The American Journal of Sociology, volume 14, number 4, page 488
    • My guardian angel had not been asleep at the switch.1934 October 5, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Right Ho, Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins […], →OCLC

Synonyms of asleep at the switch

Origin of asleep at the switch

Probably an allusion to the important responsibilities of a railway switchman.

Questions about asleep at the switch

What does asleep at the switch mean?
Asleep at the switch means neglectful of an important task, responsibility, or opportunity.
What part of speech is asleep at the switch?
Asleep at the switch is an adjective.

Words near asleep at the switch in the dictionary

  1. aslantwise
  2. aslaver
  3. ASLC
  4. ASLE
  5. asleep
  6. asleep at the switch
  7. asleep at the wheel
  8. asleepe
  9. ASLEF
  10. Asleson
  11. Aslesons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: asleep at the switch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-asleep at the switch.ogg.

Cite this entry: “asleep at the switch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/asleep_at_the_switch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.