# suffix/prefix + sleep = opposite of sleep



## Magg

Hell,

I need to find a prefix or suffix to change the meanig of the verb 'sleep' so that it means completely the opposite; I mean: _I was/felt? ............... (sleep) yesterday night because I had had two cups of coffee before dinner._
Any help?

Thanks
Magg


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## Masood

Magg said:
			
		

> Hell,
> 
> I need to find a prefix or suffix to change the meanig of the verb 'sleep' so that it means completely the opposite; I mean: _I was/felt? ............... (sleep) yesterday night because I had had two cups of coffee before dinner._
> Any help?
> 
> Thanks
> Magg



Hi there Magg!
Yo diría _'I felt awake/alert'_.


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## dave

Hi Magg. Why are your questions always so interesting?!

Are you sure there is an answer to this one?!

At the moment I can't think of any suffix or prefix that can be added to *sleep * to create its antonym. For your sentence I would simply say:

_I couldn't sleep / fall asleep / get to sleep last night because I had had two cups of coffee before dinner_

I'll think about it some more though, and get back to you if anything occurs to me.

Dave


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## Magg

Masood said:
			
		

> Hi there Magg!
> Yo diría _'I felt awake/alert'_.


Hi ya, M.

So, ins't there a word containing 'sleep' (as in 'asleep') meaning the same as you suggested?

You know, I'm supposed to transform the verb 'sleep', but I can't think of any word and my dictionary doesn't help much.

Magg


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## badger

Magg said:
			
		

> Hell,
> 
> I need to find a prefix or suffix to change the meanig of the verb 'sleep' so that it means completely the opposite; I mean: _I was/felt? ............... (sleep) yesterday night because I had had two cups of coffee before dinner._
> Any help?
> 
> Thanks
> Magg



Hi Magg

Unsleepy might do for the meaning but i'm not sure if it's a *proper* word.

So >> I felt unsleepy *last* night because *I'd* had two cups of coffee before dinner.

But >>I couldn't sleep *last* night because *I'd* had two cups of coffee before dinner.

Might be better.

Badger.


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## Magg

badger said:
			
		

> Hi Magg
> 
> Unsleepy might do for the meaning but i'm not sure if it's a *proper* word.
> 
> So >> I felt unsleepy *last* night because *I'd* had two cups of coffee before dinner.
> 
> But >>I couldn't sleep *last* night because *I'd* had two cups of coffee before dinner.
> 
> Might be better.
> 
> Badger.



Yeah, I actually thought of the prefix -un, but the dictionary didn't had the word. 

Anyway, I'll wait for corrections.

Thanks for helping me.


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## Masood

Magg said:
			
		

> Hi ya, M.
> 
> So, ins't there a word containing 'sleep' (as in 'asleep') meaning the same as you suggested?
> 
> You know, I'm supposed to transform the verb 'sleep', but I can't think of any word and my dictionary doesn't help much.
> 
> Magg


Ah, my mistake. Hmmmm, que tal 'sleepless'....hmmmm. What do you reckon, dave?...I might've just made that word up.


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## Edwin

Magg said:
			
		

> Hell,
> 
> I need to find a prefix or suffix to change the meanig of the verb 'sleep' so that it means completely the opposite; I mean: _I was/felt? ............... (sleep) yesterday night because I had had two cups of coffee before dinner._
> Any help?
> 
> Thanks
> Magg



¿Supongo que por ''yesterday night'' quiere decir ''last night'' (anoche) o quizá ''night before last'' (anteanoche)?

Qué tal esto:

I was sleepless last night since I had two cups of coffee before dinner.

sleepless ['slɪlɪs] adjetivo
1   (persona) insomne
2   (noche) en blanco


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## Masood

....although there was a film called 'Sleepless in Seattle", so maybe you can use "I felt sleepless" in your answer Magg.


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## dave

Masood said:
			
		

> Ah, my mistake. Hmmmm, que tal 'sleepless'....hmmmm. What do you reckon, dave?...I might've just made that word up.



Good call Masood!

_I had a sleepless night last night because I'd had two cups of coffee before dinner_

Perfect!

Magg - *sleepless * is an adjective, but isn't usually used to describe people. It's normally found in the expression _a sleepless night _ (and also in the film title _Sleepless in Seattle_). Does this help?


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## cristóbal

badger said:
			
		

> Hi Magg
> 
> Unsleepy might do for the meaning but i'm not sure if it's a *proper* word.
> 
> So >> I felt unsleepy *last* night because *I'd* had two cups of coffee before dinner.
> 
> But >>I couldn't sleep *last* night because *I'd* had two cups of coffee before dinner.
> 
> Might be better.
> 
> Badger.




I was thinking "unsleepy" too!  But I'm pretty sure it's not a word, but it would definitely be understood, because I might even be tempted to say it myself. 
I would probably say "I wasn't very sleepy."

Roget's thesaurus, which is available online for free, and very useful for the budding writer or aspiring essayist, provides the following antonyms for "sleepy":
alert, awake, congnizant, conscious, energetic, lively, vivacious, wide-eyed

Of those, alert, awake, energetic, lively, and wide-eyed are used in common speech... the others are a bit more "culto", but would all fit fine with the sentence: "I was feeling ****"  EXCEPT conscious, which sounds a bit silly, either you is or you isn't conscious, there's no feeling about it. (NOTE: "either you is or you isn't" is a coloquialism and absolutely incorrect grammar, but so much fun to say.)

If you want to be fun, you can say "I was feeling bright-eyed and bushy- tailed"  a reference to the furry rabbit, as if you were so awake you were hopping around all the time...


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## Edwin

Masood said:
			
		

> Ah, my mistake. Hmmmm, que tal 'sleepless'....hmmmm. What do you reckon, dave?...I might've just made that word up.



No, it's a word. Recall the well-known tear-jerker movie: 
''Sleepless in Seattle''?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108160/


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## Magg

dave said:
			
		

> Hi Magg. Why are your questions always so interesting?!
> 
> Dave


I don't know, really. But what you think it's interesting I think it's lack of knowledge, and sometimes I have the feeling that I'm making questions about trivial matters. I'm glad to know that you don't think the same.


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## Magg

Masood said:
			
		

> Ah, my mistake. Hmmmm, que tal 'sleepless'....hmmmm.



I don't know, you tell me, you're the British.    Just kidding.

Unsleepy/sleepless... both sound good to me; I'm Spanish.


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## cristóbal

Magg said:
			
		

> I don't know, you tell me, you're the British.    Just kidding.
> 
> Unsleepy/sleepless... both sound good to me; I'm Spanish.



Sleepless is a word, unsleepy is not.  However, sleepless doesn't really imply being awake and coherent, it implies that you are unable to sleep.  You maybe really really sleepy and still sleepless.


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## badger

Magg said:
			
		

> I don't know, you tell me, you're the British.    Just kidding.
> 
> Unsleepy/sleepless... both sound good to me; I'm Spanish.



Hi again Magg.

Sleepless just doesn't sound right to me.

Maybe my mind thinks that sleepless is a constant state and its rejecting it because of this.

badg.


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## Edwin

dave said:
			
		

> Magg - *sleepless * is an adjective, but isn't usually used to describe people. It's normally found in the expression _a sleepless night _ (and also in the film title _Sleepless in Seattle_). Does this help?



But, WordRef.com even has an entry for sleepless person in the English dictionary:

sleepless person
A	noun
	1 	insomniac, sleepless person
 		someone who cannot sleep

[It seems I cannot type fast enough to keep up with this thread.  There will no doubt be more replies before I can post this.  ]


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## dave

Edwin said:
			
		

> But, WordRef.com even has an entry for sleepless person in the English dictionary:
> 
> sleepless person
> A	noun
> 1 	insomniac, sleepless person
> someone who cannot sleep
> 
> [It seems I cannot type fast enough to keep up with this thread.  There will no doubt be more replies before I can post this.  ]



Sure, but would you say that this is normal usage?

I would never say:

_I was sleepless last night_

And I would think it strange if someone said this to me. Unless of course this is another BrE / AmE thing? Would YOU say it?!


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## Edwin

badger said:
			
		

> Hi again Magg.
> 
> Sleepless just doesn't sound right to me.
> 
> Maybe my mind thinks that sleepless is a constant state and its rejecting it because of this.
> 
> badg.



I think the problem with this word (sleepless) is that it is not something that most people would say: They would say,

I couldn't sleep last night ...

or

I was awake all night last night..

or 

I was rolling and tumbling all night last night...

-----

ROLLING AND TUMBLING
(M. Morganfield)

I roll and I tumble, cried the whole night long
Yes I roll and I tumble, I cried the whole night long
I got up this morning, feeling that something going on wrong

Well now want you to love me baby, or please let me be
 Yes love me baby, or please let me be
If you don't like my peaches please don't shake my tree

Well I want you to love me baby, and come on and say you'll be mine
I want you to love me baby, come and say you'll be mine
If you don't like my potatoes, please don't dig up my vine


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## Edwin

dave said:
			
		

> Sure, but would you say that this is normal usage?
> 
> I would never say:
> 
> _I was sleepless last night_
> 
> And I would think it strange if someone said this to me. Unless of course this is another BrE / AmE thing? Would YOU say it?!



I doubt it unless I was in a very literary mood.  See my previous post.


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## dave

Agreed!

You've just sent me for my Canned Heat collection - am now listening to Rollin' & Tumblin' from their Monterey Pop appearance!


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## juanma

Two cups of coffee before dinner put me out of my sleep last night? Only a suggestion, I´m not sure.


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## Edwin

juanma said:
			
		

> Two cups of coffee before dinner put me out of my sleep last night?



...put me out of my sleep...?   Me parece muy raro.  Creo que nadie va a decir eso.


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## mjscott

If unsleepy isn't a word (as per whether it's in the dictionary or nor) I wouldn't have known it unless English was not my first language and I was unsure of using it. Unsleepy is a pretty common adjective--though to romance the word in my mind makes it sound a little funny. (That happens a lot, however, with a lot of words these days—especially when I’m learning so much about my language and others’! It’s like the tu / vos / usted forum where Edwin spoke of a man as a mujeriego. At first, it sounded like murciélago or bat—then I thought—hmmm…..is he a vampire? Then I romanced the word a little bit more….
….riego comes from regar—to water or irrigate. Riego is irrigation. I am guessing (but then, again, it is only the romancing of words) that maybe a mujeriego is someone who waters women—who tries with words to make them bloom….
….then romancing the words again I though of the Canadian term, “hoser.” I wondered if a hoser was a womanizer, or just a beer drinker—or what?

Any Canadians care to comment?


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## Richie

Magg said:
			
		

> Hell,
> 
> I need to find a prefix or suffix to change the meanig of the verb 'sleep' so that it means completely the opposite; I mean: _I was/felt? ............... (sleep) yesterday night because I had had two cups of coffee before dinner._
> Any help?
> 
> Thanks
> Magg





I think the word you want is "sleepless"


Last night I had a sleepless night because, I had two cups of coffee before dinner.
Last night I was awake all night because, I had two cups of coffee before dinner.

I didn't feel sleepy. (pasado)
I wasn't sleepy. (pasado)

Nobody says unsleepy but, i guess you could.

No mas cafe. Solomente cervezas. jaja


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## jacinta

mjscott said:
			
		

> If unsleepy isn't a word (as per whether it's in the dictionary or nor) I wouldn't have known it unless English was not my first language and I was unsure of using it. Unsleepy is a pretty common adjective--though to romance the word in my mind makes it sound a little funny.




Boy, I have to say I have never heard unsleepy.  I really don't think it's a word, but, I'm not sure.  I've just never seen or heard it.  Doesn't mean anything, I suppose...

I would say "I was wide awake because of the two cups of coffee I drank after dinner.  I couldn't fall asleep for a long time."


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## dave

Just checked the OED, and *unsleepy* is not there. However if enough of us start using it I bet we could get it into the next edition!


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## el_novato

*sleepless * 
adj (person) insomne; (night) en vela 


*sleepless   * 
adjective 
1 [before noun] without any sleep:
I've spent so many sleepless nights worrying about him.

2 [after verb] not able to sleep:
Alone and sleepless, she stared miserably up at the ceiling.


*asleep * 
adj dormido, -a; to be ~ estar dormido; to fall ~ quedarse dormido 

*asleep*
adjective [not gradable] 
sleeping or not awake 
I_ fell asleep (= began to sleep) while watching television.
I didn't hear the phone -- I was fast/sound asleep (= sleeping and not easily awakened).
If your arm or leg is asleep, you have no feeling there because the flow of blood to that part has been reduced by being in the same position for too long._

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/


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## juanma

Two cups of coffee before dinner kept me awake last night
Two cups of coffee before dinner prevented me from getting into sleep last night
Two cups of coffee before dinner made me lose my sleep last night


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## cristóbal

juanma said:
			
		

> Two cups of coffee before dinner kept me awake last night
> Two cups of coffee before dinner prevented me from getting into sleep last night
> Two cups of coffee before dinner made me lose my sleep last night



Just a few tweaks, otherwise, you're right:
"Two cups of coffee before dinner prevented me from getting TO sleep last night."
"Two cups of coffee before dinner made me lose sleep last night." (no hace falta el "my")


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