- present participle of awaken.
awakening
Americanadjective
noun
-
awakenings
plural
-
the act of awaking from sleep.
-
a revival of interest or attention.
-
a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something.
a rude awakening to the disagreeable facts.
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
myPerspectives 8.1
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century," Vocabulary from Chapter 1
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Like a mass awakening, labels and executives began courting them, making offers that were unimaginable just a few years earlier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
If the Tisza majority expects Baka to be a tame president, they may get a rude awakening.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Cservenka and OSU colleagues Julia Donner and Alexia Obrochta focused on what is commonly known as CAR, or the cortisol awakening response.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
Now, when people who leased an EV come into their dealership hoping for another, they have been in for a rude awakening, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Some of the men nearby were beginning to look at him with awakening curiosity.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Vitamin D deficiency has previously been associated with sleep problems including insomnia and more frequent nighttime awakenings.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
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
Osborn can sound like a factory man from a Bruce Springsteen song, a character whose youthful exuberance and restless sense of escape have been tempered by life’s hard awakenings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2025
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.
