drift off
phrasal verb
drifted off; drifting off; drifts off
informal
: to fall asleep
She drifted off while I was still talking.
He gradually drifted off to sleep.
Examples of drift off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Others, who too have been guilty of drifting off themselves, might be even more understanding.
—
Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
The moisture sparking all that rain is attached to a low-pressure system drifting off the northeast coast of Florida this weekend.
—Miami Herald, 14 July 2025
The two disturbances that never fully materialized appeared between July 12 and July 23 and drifted off to the west, causing rain across North Florida and along the Gulf Coast into Louisiana.
—Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025
Their ability to suss out the strategy seems to be linked with the depth of their sleep: 85.7 percent of the people who reached N2 sleep during their nap figured it out, compared with just 63.6 percent of those who reached N1 sleep and 55.5 percent of those who did not drift off to sleep.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for drift off
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Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
The moisture sparking all that rain is attached to a low-pressure system drifting off the northeast coast of Florida this weekend.
—Miami Herald, 14 July 2025
The two disturbances that never fully materialized appeared between July 12 and July 23 and drifted off to the west, causing rain across North Florida and along the Gulf Coast into Louisiana.
—Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025
Their ability to suss out the strategy seems to be linked with the depth of their sleep: 85.7 percent of the people who reached N2 sleep during their nap figured it out, compared with just 63.6 percent of those who reached N1 sleep and 55.5 percent of those who did not drift off to sleep.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for drift off
Cite this Entry
“Drift off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drift%20off. Accessed 4 Sep. 2025.
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