woke
Americanverb
adjective
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having or marked by an active awareness of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those involving the treatment of ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities: He took one African American history class and now he thinks he’s woke.
In light of incidents of police brutality, it’s important to stay woke.
He took one African American history class and now he thinks he’s woke.
This generation of kids is trying to make woke choices in life.
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Disparaging. as used by political opponents, of or relating to a liberal progressive orthodoxy.
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Slang. aware of the facts, true situation, etc. (sometimes used facetiously).
Stay woke—always read a contract before you sign it, and know your rights.
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awake.
I had to drink lots of coffee this morning to stay woke.
verb
Usage
What else does woke mean? Woke means being conscious of racial discrimination in society and other forms of oppression and injustice. In mainstream use, woke can also more generally describe someone or something as being "with it."
Other Word Forms
- unwoke adjective
- wokeism noun
- wokeness noun
- wokism noun
Etymology
Origin of woke
First recorded before 900 as past tense woke ( for def. 1 ); 1960–65 woke ( for defs. 2, 4 ), popularized by the Black civil rights movement and later by Black Lives Matter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For almost a year, Matthew Smith woke up every day wondering if he would receive the phonecall that would save his life.
From BBC
"I know when I was lying there, all I could think of is, 'I'm not ready to leave my daughter'," Dyer said, recalling how she woke up after falling 30ft down the sheer drop.
From BBC
Gemma told the court her "life changed forever" when she woke up the following morning to discover "Vicky had not come home".
From BBC
When he woke again, he was in a different place.
From Literature
Thor woke from his nap just when Laurence was finishing the last bath, which was for an inky spaniel named Webster.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
