awake
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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awakes,
present (3rd person singular)
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awoke,
past participle, past
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awaked,
past
-
awoken,
past participle
-
awaking
present participle
-
to wake up; rouse from sleep.
I awoke at six with a feeling of dread.
-
to rouse to action; become active.
His flagging interest awoke.
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to come or bring to an awareness; become cognizant (often followed byto ).
She awoke to the realities of life.
adjective
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waking; not sleeping.
-
vigilant; alert.
They were awake to the danger.
verb
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to emerge or rouse from sleep; wake
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to become or cause to become alert
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(usually foll by to) to become or make aware (of)
to awake to reality
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Also: awaken. (tr) to arouse (feelings, etc) or cause to remember (memories, etc)
adjective
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not sleeping
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(sometimes foll by to) lively or alert
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reawakeverb
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awakeableadjective
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half-awakeadjective
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unawakeadjective
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unawakeableadjective
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unawakedadjective
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unawakingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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awakesimple
-
awakessimple
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have awokeperfect
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have awokenperfect
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has awokeperfect
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has awokenperfect
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am awakingprogressive
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are awakingprogressive
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is awakingprogressive
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have been awakingperfect progressive
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has been awakingperfect progressive
Past
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awakedsimple
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awokesimple
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had awokeperfect
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had awokenperfect
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was awakingprogressive
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were awakingprogressive
-
had been awakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of awake
First recorded before 1000; Middle English awaken, Old English awacen, past participle of awæcnan; see a 1, waken
Explanation
When you're awake, you're conscious and aware of your surroundings. When you're not awake, you're asleep. If you are reading this, you are indeed awake. Most people are awake during the day and asleep at night, but if you work the night shift or suffer from insomnia, you might also be awake at night. When awake is used as a verb, it means "wake up:" "I watched my kitten awake from a deep sleep and yawn." Awake comes from two Old English roots, āwæcnan, "to arise," and āwacian, "to revive."
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:
Reiner pointed to “a variety of physical ailments” that are “easy to see,” including bruised hands, swollen legs and an inability to stay awake.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
Salk neuroscientist John Reynolds, PhD, was the first to identify traveling brain waves in the visual systems of awake animals back in 2020.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026
Tattoo artist Andres Hernandez said he was worried about his family and friends, adding that he would stay awake because structures around him were "on the verge of collapsing."
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Or, finding yourself wide awake at 3am, brain whirring and no prospect of sleep.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
On the occasions that Magic visited later in the day, when he was awake, Duane found himself overwhelmed by her energy and exuberance.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
Ryan Gosling stars in the film as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a sun-dimming phenomenon.
From Barron's ● Mar. 22, 2026
When she awakes, he lies to her about what happened, and season one's cliffhanger ending leaves viewers with the strong impression that Ellie is well aware of the deception.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2025
When Phillips awakes, she’ll squeeze her eyes closed and try and coax the vision to return.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
Mohsin Hamid on the inspiration — and the global rise in tribalism — behind “The Last White Man,” in which a man awakes to find he’s turned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2022
The night awakes to buzzing and to cries and barks.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Satchell, who said the months at the Six Flags site were the highlight of her nursing career, told Dennis she’d awaked that morning sad to see it close.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2021
A few minutes earlier, Tangie Griffin had awaked to screaming; she was used to young Shaquem crying when he bumped his partially developed left hand.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2018
The hotel staff, realizing it had awaked a lioness, swiftly rustled up an empty room on the 39th floor, where Ms. Jones ordered up a bottle of Champagne and fresh orange juice.
From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 2015
To longtime supporters, it was as if entire sections of the crowd had awaked from a 15-year coma.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2014
Later.—I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Bored into slumber by 8:30 or 9, I awoke instantly to the bell at 5:15.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
I awoke in Washington on a recent Thursday the proud owner of a pair of Donald Trump’s favorite shoes.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
"This awoke not just Michoacan, but all of Mexico," she told AFP while surrounded by bodyguards to keep would-be assassins at bay.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
Toni Morrison wrote before dawn, before her children awoke and she had to go to her publishing job.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
When Log-a-Log awoke from out of the trance he saw his friend Matthias the Warrior.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
GRENOBLE, France—One night last week, Tour de France leader Tadej Pogacar was fast asleep on the shores of Lake Geneva when he was suddenly awoken by a knock at his hotel-room door.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Sajili said he was awoken by a fellow passenger as the triple-decker ferry began to tilt precariously.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
They were awoken by neighbours, who knocked on their boat door at 04:20 GMT on Monday.
From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2025
Villagers have awoken to a replica pony standing tall in place of a bronze metal statue which was cut down to its hooves last summer.
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
Harry tried to recall what he had been dreaming about before he had awoken.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
I do luxuriate in awaking to no news deadlines, playing pickleball when court fees are low and cycling to the beach on a weekday morning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Anwar McQueen, a star guard who played on the 1992-93 team, recalls an episode when he overslept, awaking too late to make the team’s flight to Vero Beach, Fla., where they were to play games.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2022
After awaking, he tweeted that he was fortunate he fell ill in Britain instead of in the United States.
From Fox News ● Aug. 5, 2020
“We are unwilling to spin out our awaking thoughts into the phantasms of sleep, which often continueth praecogitations, making Cables of Cobwebbes and Wildernesses of handsome groves.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2020
And now Dawn took her own fair throne, awaking the girl in the sweet gown, still charmed by dream.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
