- present participle of awaken.
awakening
Americanadjective
noun
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the act of awaking from sleep.
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a revival of interest or attention.
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a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something.
a rude awakening to the disagreeable facts.
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a renewal of interest in religion, especially in a community; a revival.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of awakening
Explanation
An awakening is the act of waking up from sleep. It can also refer to other forms of new or sudden consciousness. When you've been asleep, whether at night or during a nap, you wake up and regain consciousness. This is known as an awakening. However, this word is often used for more dramatic things than getting out of bed. Having a religious epiphany is an awakening. Deciding to get married could be considered an awakening. Any time you realize or accept something important and life-changing, it can be called an awakening, because it's almost like you were asleep before.
Vocabulary lists containing awakening
May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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myPerspectives 8.1
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"The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century," Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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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.
See Examples For:
Clara is developmentally disabled due to a childhood accident; Margaret’s efforts to keep her safe gradually give way to a fuller understanding of her daughter’s awakening, and the lovelessness of her own marriage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Many queer coming-of-age movies position the character’s awakening as an act of defiance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
One of many joys of “Contrapposto” is observing Cricket’s artistic awakening via the mentors who guide him into his artistic consciousness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
Rasputin is in fact an ex-Green Beret from Buffalo, N.Y., named Patrick, but he had a religious awakening and now claims to be the reincarnated spirit of the notorious Russian mystic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
Frightful shook rain from her feathers without awakening.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
A 2014 study that looked at the sleep diaries of 592 adults without sleep disorders found an average of 1.4 awakenings per night.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2025
If there was hope, and belief, that this type of performance was maybe behind them, then this was the rudest of rude awakenings.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2025
"This study represents the most comprehensive synthesis of experimental sleep and emotion research to date, and provides strong evidence that periods of extended wakefulness, shortened sleep duration, and nighttime awakenings adversely influence human emotional functioning."
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2023
Mother and rapper son separately experience musical awakenings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
There had been a time when I’d loathed such rude awakenings.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
