verb
oversleep
oh-vuh-SLEEP
verb
1
To sleep for longer than you meant to, missing the time you were supposed to wake up.
"I overslept and missed the first meeting of the day."
"Set two alarms so you don't oversleep tomorrow."
How to Use Oversleep
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishTo sleep past the time you needed to get up.
Common pairings
oversleep and miss
tend to oversleep
Word Forms
overslept past tense, oversleeps singular
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Etymology
From over- + sleep, going back to Old English ofer- ("over") and slǣpan ("to sleep").