somnambulism

[som-nam-byuh-liz-uhm, suhm-]

noun

1. sleepwalking.

somnambulism

/ sɒmˈnæmbjʊˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. Also called: noctambulism. a condition that is characterized by walking while asleep or in a hypnotic trance

Other Word Forms

• somnambulistic adjective
• somnambulist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of somnambulism¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French somnambulisme, from New Latin somnambulismus, equivalent to somn(us) “sleep” + ambul(āre) “to walk” + -ismus -ism

Example Sentences

But we must be careful not to confuse this disorder with somnambulism.

From Scientific American

Or are they symptoms of either sleep paralysis — the mind awake, but the body asleep — or its converse: somnambulism, or sleepwalking?

From Washington Post

By the last half-hour, I had plunged into a state of political somnambulism.

From The Guardian

As a realist narrator, he reports first-hand the nightmare of the surreal somnambulism outbreak.

From Los Angeles Times

This brutal satirical novel takes place on a single night, when a plague of somnambulism unleashes a host of suppressed emotions among the inhabitants of a Chinese village.

From New York Times