awaken
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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awakens,
present (3rd person singular)
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awakened,
past participle, past
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awakening
present participle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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awakensimple
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awakenssimple
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have awakenedperfect
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has awakenedperfect
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am awakeningprogressive
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are awakeningprogressive
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is awakeningprogressive
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have been awakeningperfect progressive
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has been awakeningperfect progressive
Past
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awakenedsimple
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had awakenedperfect
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was awakeningprogressive
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were awakeningprogressive
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had been awakeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of awaken
before 900; Middle English awak ( e ) nen, Old English awæcnian earlier onwæcnian. See a- 1, waken
Explanation
To awaken someone is to wake them up. You might awaken your roommate accidentally by practicing your tap dance routine in the kitchen. You can awaken another person, and a noise or the smell of pancakes or a scary dream can all awaken you from a deep sleep. You can also use the verb awaken to describe what happens when you wake from sleep: "I awaken every morning with my pillow on the floor." A more figurative way to awaken is to arouse a certain feeling or awareness. For example, a sad movie can awaken melancholy feelings in the most cheerful person.
Vocabulary lists containing awaken
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:
A fast, he insisted, was not blackmail but an act of suffering intended to awaken rather than coerce.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Daily, she would awaken as early as 5 a.m. to review homework assignments before beginning class at 7 a.m. at Hesperia High.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
"The pope is maybe the only person who can awaken the conscience a little bit of all the people who have harmed this territory," local worshipper Giuseppina De Francesco, 60, told AFP.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
It seemed to awaken a sense of the car’s potential.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
In only eleven days, the giants planned to awaken Gaia.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Before leaving the village for the modern world, Yuru awakens Left and Right, two statues that have marked the entrance to the village.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
The rise in energy prices awakens memories of the 2022 crisis, but the backdrop now is different.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
"We used to think of the time before the genome awakens as a period of chaos," explains Noura Maziak, lead author of the study.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 27, 2026
Glinda meanwhile has become the poster girl of the Wizard's regime -- a position that brings her privilege and popularity, but also awakens guilt and shame, stemming from her childhood.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
In this revised version, a hydrogen bomb test awakens a giant fire-breathing mutant, which then rises out of the sea and marches into Tokyo.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
His folk-singer brother first awakened his interest in politics while being "asked to leave" grammar school for "messing about" deepened his dislike of authority.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
“We have awakened so many people, but there’s so many more people to awaken,” Morales said in Spanish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
"By putting your own life on the line, you awakened the conscience of an entire nation," Dipke, 30, said in a social media post.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Without realizing it, Kevin O’Leary may have awakened a new political uprising in Utah—one that could come back to bite the very lawmakers he partnered with for his latest moneymaking venture.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2026
Father was furious when he was awakened from his sleep.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
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
Rather than fuel the animosity, the Friends made Saturday more of an awakening than a protest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Turns out the red pill is also a metaphor for awakening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
There’s no point in awakening them for this.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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.
