awake
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
awakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
awoke,
past participle, past
-
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.
-
to come or bring to an awareness; become cognizant (often followed byto ).
She awoke to the realities of life.
adjective
-
waking; not sleeping.
-
vigilant; alert.
They were awake to the danger.
verb
-
to emerge or rouse from sleep; wake
-
to become or cause to become alert
-
(usually foll by to) to become or make aware (of)
to awake to reality
-
Also: awaken. (tr) to arouse (feelings, etc) or cause to remember (memories, etc)
adjective
-
not sleeping
-
(sometimes foll by to) lively or alert
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
reawakeverb
-
awakeableadjective
-
half-awakeadjective
-
unawakeadjective
-
unawakeableadjective
-
unawakedadjective
-
unawakingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
awakesimple
-
awakessimple
-
have awokeperfect
-
have awokenperfect
-
has awokeperfect
-
has awokenperfect
-
am awakingprogressive
-
are awakingprogressive
-
is awakingprogressive
-
have been awakingperfect progressive
-
has been awakingperfect progressive
Past
-
awakedsimple
-
awokesimple
-
had awokeperfect
-
had awokenperfect
-
was awakingprogressive
-
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:
“The doctors are encouraged by his progress, he is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery,” she added.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
Being tired going to bed really helped my sleeping hours and meant I was never kept awake worrying about what was going wrong at work.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Once awake, Matt gazes at Dr. Corr in weepy admiration; she stares back at him neutrally.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
There are only so many hours in a day, which is why he’s awake late into the night.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Sena wished it were a bad dream, but he was wide awake.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Ryan Gosling stars in the Amazon MGM 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. 29, 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
But then they encounter an aswang, a Filipino vampire, who awakes in Farrah an ancient and terrifying power.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
When she awakes, her friends are gathered around her.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2023
He awakes as soon as I think it.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
It was 8 a.m. in Omsk when Tatiana was awaked by a phone call.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
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
Thibault has discussed playing Delle Donne at multiple positions, even admitting he’s awaked in the middle of the night with new offensive ideas.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2017
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
“Who has awaked me? Who has broken the spell?” she asked.
From "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis
When that man awoke he called for help.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
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
Early the next morning, Duane awoke, ready to put the plan into action.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
"Young people have awoken for our parents, too," Billa told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
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
The mother and father were awoken at 03:00 GMT to the fire and attempted to reach the back bedroom where the children were sleeping.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
She couldn’t believe that just a few days ago the Earth Mother had awoken and almost destroyed everything Piper held dear.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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
“They have all had similar experiences with the Grants Pass police awaking them, moving them along, ticketing them, fining them, arresting them and/or criminally prosecuting them for living outside.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 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
I kept thinking I had slept and was awaking after dreaming of a tiger.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
