Word.ws English Dictionary

narcoleptic

narcoleptic noun: one who suffers from narcolepsy ("a disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable attacks of deep sleep").

Noun

narcoleptic (plural narcoleptics)

  1. One who suffers from narcolepsy ("a disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable attacks of deep sleep").

Adjective

narcoleptic (comparative more narcoleptic, superlative most narcoleptic)

  1. Pertaining to or affected by narcolepsy.
    • Miranda, who is narcoleptic and forgot to take her medication, was out cold for nearly 40 minutes after the plucky little girl called 911.2018 June 4, Lia Eustachewich, “3-year-old girl saves mom's life”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2020
  2. (figuratively) Lacking activity; drowsy, lethargic.
    • A tour guide, who claimed to have been a former Israeli colonel, whisked us about while he discoursed on chickpeas, the Six-Day War and, for the Christians among us, Jesus' difficult end. But the trip was pleasant in a narcoleptic, summery kind of way.2014 February 23, Gary Shteyngart, “Wet Hot Israeli Summer”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Dec 2022
    • The loneliness of this new life, he said, is mitigated by Jacques, who spent most of the interview beached in a narcoleptic reverie at my feet, snoring and farting.2017 May 3, Michael Paterniti, “Brad Pitt Talks Divorce, Quitting Drinking, and Becoming a Better Man”, in GQ, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2023
  3. (figuratively) Tending to "put someone to sleep"; extremely boring or tedious.
    • The debate started at 11.30am, nudging out of port with a characteristically narcoleptic speech from Lord Campbell of Alloway (Con).2005 July 15, Quentin Letts, “I am white, middle-class, love my wife, own my home and adore traditional TV sitcoms. So why does the BBC hate me?”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC...

narcoleptic meaning in Tamil and Vietnamese

narcoleptic in Tamil

கட்டுப்படாத் தூக்கநோயர்

narcoleptic in Vietnamese

one who suffers from narcolepsy
ngủ rũ
pertaining to narcolepsy
ngủ rũ

Forms of narcoleptic

Noun
pluralnarcoleptics
Adjective
comparativemore narcoleptic
superlativemost narcoleptic

Origin of narcoleptic

From narco- (“pertaining to sleep”) + -leptic (“of or relating to a condition of seizing”).

Words formed from narcoleptic

Questions about narcoleptic

What does narcoleptic mean?
Narcoleptic means one who suffers from narcolepsy ("a disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable attacks of deep sleep").
What is narcoleptic in Tamil?
Narcoleptic in Tamil is கட்டுப்படாத் தூக்கநோயர். See Narcoleptic meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is narcoleptic?
Narcoleptic can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of narcoleptic?
The plural of narcoleptic is narcoleptics.

Words near narcoleptic in the dictionary

  1. narcokleptocracies
  2. narcokleptocracy
  3. narcolepsies
  4. narcolepsy
  5. narcolept
  6. narcoleptic
  7. narcoleptically
  8. narcoleptics
  9. narcolepts
  10. narcological
  11. narcologist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: narcoleptic (page history and authors); narcoleptic (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-narcoleptic.wav.

Cite this entry: “narcoleptic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/narcoleptic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.