Sleepy means feeling tired and ready for sleep. When you're sleepy, your eyelids feel heavy, you might yawn repeatedly, and it becomes harder to focus on what you're doing. After a long day of school, sports practice, and homework, you might feel so sleepy that you can barely keep your eyes open during dinner.

The word can also describe places or things that seem quiet, slow, or inactive, like they're almost dozing off themselves. A sleepy little town might have just one main street, a few stores, and not much happening. On a hot summer afternoon, even a usually busy park might have a sleepy feeling, with only a few people moving slowly in the shade.

You'll sometimes hear the phrase sleepy-eyed, describing someone whose drowsiness shows clearly in their face. And when something makes you feel drowsy, like a warm room or a boring lecture, you might say it has a sleepy effect on you. The opposite of sleepy is alert or wide awake.