From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsomnolentsom‧no‧lent /ˈsɒmnələnt $ ˈsɑːm-/ adjective literary 1 SLEEPalmost starting to sleep SYN sleepy He lay quiet, somnolent after the day’s exertions.2 SLEEPmaking you want to sleep SYN soporific a somnolent summer’s afternoon —somnolence noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
somnolent• The picnic lunch which had been eaten immediately on arrival had rendered some of the elders somnolent.• His unquiet personality could not outface the somnolent arrogance of the greatest city in the world.• Her somnolent black eyes and tenderly pursed pink lips intrude upon the eggshell delicacy of her face with the most delicate affection.• Like his compatriot Nelson Piquet, Emerson in the cockpit is a somnolent cat.• a slow, somnolent folk song• Sometimes the tunes are ethereal and somnolent like Brian Eno after a whole bottle of Actifed.• His somnolent reaction was to twist half around-exposing his left ankle and leg.• The port lay somnolent, the shops were shut.Origin somnolent (1400-1500) Old French Latin somnolentus, from somnus “sleep” 