How to Use nod off in a Sentence

nod off

verb
  • Jupiter acts as a guardian angel, but the head that wears the halo has been known to nod off.
    — SFChronicle.com, 11 Aug. 2020
  • Crack was a different drug because dope had guys nodding off.
    — Insanul Ahmed, Men's Health, 22 Feb. 2023
  • Crack was a different drug because dope had guys nodding off.
    — Insanul Ahmed, Men's Health, 1 Aug. 2023
  • As one mother nodded off, her eyelids heavy, a nurse came in and whisked her baby away.
    — Bryant Rousseau, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2024
  • Watching the crowd nod off will destroy your confidence.
    — Todd Harmonson, Oc Register, 4 Aug. 2025
  • Travelers who struggle to nod off on planes often find trains more conducive to sleep.
    — Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024
  • Some senators appeared to nod off at their desks, stirring in time to cast their votes on amendments.
    — Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2021
  • The other three physicians were sleeping, and Drew nodded off as well.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 23 Feb. 2023
  • Blackout shades and curtains are a dream for light sleepers and for parents who want wide-awake children to nod off at nap time.
    — Rachel Klein, Popular Mechanics, 27 Feb. 2023
  • My grandfather had finished his cake and started nodding off at the table.
    — Ayşegül Savaş, The New Yorker, 14 July 2024
  • Take the monorail for example, which is when your cat nods off while sitting atop a higher perch, perhaps the back of your couch.
    — Discover Magazine, 3 Sep. 2024
  • People who nodded off and died after taking opioids are often found hunched over with their legs curled under them.
    — Natalie Kitroeff Meridith Kohut, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2024
  • At one point, cameras appeared to catch the Jets’ head coach, Aaron Glenn, nodding off.
    — Dan Greene, New Yorker, 18 May 2026
  • The Dead, in their original incarnation, died a few times, or at least nodded off.
    — Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 22 July 2024
  • Riley didn't remember all the details of the film—she'd nodded off a bit in the middle—but it had been based on a true story.
    — Jessica Leon, EW.com, 27 Feb. 2023
  • The man sitting next to me was beginning to nod off, perhaps succumbing to a post-cookie sugar crash.
    — Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 16 Sep. 2025
  • As one mother nodded off, her eyelids heavy after giving birth less than two weeks earlier, a nurse came in and whisked her baby away.
    — Lauretta Charlton, New York Times, 28 Jan. 2024
  • Trump is often seen sitting between his lawyers with his eyes closed − sometimes even appearing to nod off − in a chair that appears to be lined with leather.
    — Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, 1 May 2024
  • Television is not the place to see this beautiful but exacting film, and many viewers will lose interest or nod off.
    — Kyle Smith, National Review, 24 Sep. 2021
  • That means night owls are wired differently from people who seem to automatically wake up at the crack of dawn and nod off at an early hour.
    — Linda Carroll, NBC News, 11 Sep. 2023
  • By the end of the line, many who remained on board were noticeably older — nodding off, gazing out the window, stretching their shoulders.
    — Victoria Kim Chang W. Lee, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2023
  • Instead of lab testing, our editors round up the best by nodding off and reviewing the industry-leading beds in their homes.
    — Nashia Baker, Architectural Digest, 8 Aug. 2025
  • Instead of lab testing, our editors round up the best by nodding off and reviewing the industry-leading beds in their homes.
    — Nashia Baker, Architectural Digest, 6 Feb. 2026
  • The study’s 18 participants took less time to nod off, on average, and spent more time in bed actually sleeping.
    — Claudia Wallis, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2017
  • That leaves an extra hour for both nodding off and waking up, with another 30 minutes between sessions so the crew can clean the pods and replace the linens.
    — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Trump has fallen asleep on the public stage before, appearing to nod off multiple times during his hush money trial earlier this year.
    — Antonio Pequeño Iv, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024
  • The video shared in the comments of the Facebook post appears to show the president nodding off to sleep while listening to one of the speakers at the community event.
    — Brieanna J. Frank, USA TODAY, 24 Aug. 2023
  • During a car trip in 1946, his father nodded off at the wheel and crashed into a sidewall, killing Ellsberg’s mother and younger sister.
    — Hillel Italie, Fortune, 16 June 2023
  • The jury make-up changed on Wednesday after one juror was dismissed for frequently nodding off during testimony.
    — Luke Cyphers, Sportico.com, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Here, researchers discovered that the birds nodded off thousands of times per day, engaging in microsleeps that averaged just four seconds each but added up to more than 11 hours of sleep per day.
    — Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Nov. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nod off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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