Sleep in means to sleep longer and get up later than usual, most often on a day off. In British English, people also say have a lie-in. If a place follows in, it simply means sleeping inside it: sleep in a tent, sleep in the car.
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sleep in (until/till + time); sleep in on + day / at the weekend; literal: sleep in + place (sleep in a tent)
- I usually sleep in on Sundays and have breakfast at about eleven.
- We slept in after the wedding and almost missed breakfast at the hotel.
- There's no school tomorrow, so the kids can sleep in for once.
What changed
First versionTomorrow is a day off, so I'm going to oversleep.
RevisionTomorrow is a day off, so I'm going to sleep in.
Oversleep seems to fit: over suggests “more”, and sleep is sleep. But oversleep means to fail to wake up on time, and nobody plans that. If a longer sleep is planned in advance, you need sleep in.
Oversleep means to wake up too late: I overslept and missed my bus. Sleep in simply says you got up late and doesn't say whether your alarm let you down. Oversleep always means you woke up later than you meant to.
Your turn
I'd worked late all week, so on Saturday I ___ until eleven and woke up feeling great.
Show the answer
slept in — This is about sleep: the person woke up at eleven feeling rested, so they slept in. Stayed in means “stayed at home”, not in bed, and doesn't fit with woke up.
Describe a day when you slept in. Say how late you slept and why you could afford to.
On the first day of my holiday I slept in until ten because I didn't have to catch an early train.
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