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:
Lestat is handsome and wealthy, with extraordinary powers and musical talent so undeniable that they awaken the queen of vampires.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
"I knew we were a sleeping giant that we needed to awaken in some way."
From BBC ● May 28, 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
You can wake, or you can waken, or you can awake, or you can awaken.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
The way Carrie awakens to her supernatural powers puts her in the realm of today’s young-adult fiction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
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 morning after giving birth, June awakens in her bed to find her baby gone; Bethel and Beauty are at the kitchen table in tears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 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
Excited at discovering this, he cries out with joy so that his wife awakens.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Higazi Shawer al-Tamimi, 70, a shopkeeper who plays a leadership role in the neighbourhood, said he was awakened at 1:00 am by soldiers and a senior officer who said he had to leave.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
I used to vacation in a cabin on Narragansett Bay where I was typically awakened to a symphony of gulls and other birds; I’d often wondered if other jazz musicians saw possibilities in these sounds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
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
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
The destruction of the temple of philosophy was not, for him, an historical event; it was a personal experience, the moment when he had awakened from a nightmare.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The remarkable display followed months of unusually wet weather, awakening seeds that had been lying dormant beneath the soil.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
The loss to Oregon last season served as a rude awakening for USC and Maiava, a reminder of how far both still had to go before reaching their potential.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
“In my mind, that was the great awakening nationally for private label,” Volpe said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 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
It was upsetting, imagining them awakening to find me gone.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
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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.
