wide-awake

[ wahyd-uh-weyk ]

adjective

1. fully awake; with the eyes wide open.

   Synonyms: unsleeping, astir, wakeful, open-eyed, awake

   Antonyms: restful, sleeping, asleep, somnolent, lethargic, drowsy, sleepy

2. alert, keen, or knowing:

   a wide-awake young woman.

   Synonyms: astute, quick, sharp, vigilant, watchful

noun

1. Also called wide-awake hat. a soft, low-crowned felt hat.
2. the sooty tern.

wide-awake

adjective

1. fully awake
2. keen, alert, or observant

noun

1. Also calledwide-awake hat a hat with a low crown and very wide brim

Derived Forms

• ˈwide-aˈwakeness, noun

Other Words From

• wide-a·wakeness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wide-awake¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Idioms and Phrases

Fully awake; also, very alert. For example, He lay there, wide awake, unable to sleep , or She was wide awake to all the possibilities . The wide in this idiom alludes to the eyes being wide open. [Early 1800s]

Example Sentences

“I woke up at, like, six in the morning, wide awake,” Sclove remembered.

From The Daily Beast

With a prayer that he may be on his feet and wide awake at the first sound of the horn, he sinks to his slumbers nightly.

From The Daily Beast

Then she extinguished her candles and sat wide awake through the night, watching over her family in the dark.

From The Daily Beast

We all have our wide-awake-at-3-in-the-morning nights, and no doubt Mrs. Romney has endured her share.

From The Daily Beast

Wide Awake serves both as a memoir and a comprehensive study of the culture surrounding sleep.

From The Daily Beast

She lay wide awake composing a letter which was nothing like the one which she wrote next day.

From Project Gutenberg

In a moment Skipper Worse was wide awake, and began to hum, as she moved her fingers along the lines.

From Project Gutenberg

When Fanny visited his room she found him wide awake, sitting up in bed with bright, feverish eyes, and crying to himself.

From Project Gutenberg

It is characteristic of Scattergood that, though wide awake, he gave no sign of knowledge of Mandy's act.

From Project Gutenberg

The gambling instinct was wide awake in Bud's nature—and as for Cash, he would hunt gold as long as he could carry pick and pan.

From Project Gutenberg