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insomnia

noun

Simple meaning

An inability to sleep.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ihnsahmneeuh

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɪnˈsɑmniə

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. medicine

    An inability to sleep; chronic sleeplessness

  2. medicine

    A sleeping disorder that is known for its symptoms of unrest and the inability to sleep.

  3. informal

    Temporary inability to sleep.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: An inability to sleep; chronic sleeplessness

Used this way, insomnia is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use insomnia

  • “He suffered from insomnia, struggling to get a full night's sleep every night.”noun

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.