Narcolepsy

//ˈnɑː(ɹ)kəˌlɛpsi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable attacks of deep sleep, often brief, sometimes accompanied by paralysis and hallucinations. countable, uncountable

    "Excitement-induced narcolepsy caused him to sleep through the most important events of his life."

  2. 2
    a sleep disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable episodes of deep sleep wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
catalepsycomaencephalitis lethargicahighlethargynarcohypnosis

Example

More examples

"Another common feature of narcolepsy is cataplexy, which is a sudden loss of muscle tone in response to strong emotion (such as laughing, surprise, or anger)."

Etymology

From French narcolepsie. By surface analysis, narco- + -lepsy, from Ancient Greek ναρκόω (narkóō, “put to sleep”) + λῆψις (lêpsis, “seizure”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.