- present participle of awaken.
awakening
Americanadjective
noun
-
awakenings
plural
-
the act of awaking from sleep.
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a revival of interest or attention.
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a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something.
a rude awakening to the disagreeable facts.
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a renewal of interest in religion, especially in a community; a revival.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of awakening
Explanation
An awakening is the act of waking up from sleep. It can also refer to other forms of new or sudden consciousness. When you've been asleep, whether at night or during a nap, you wake up and regain consciousness. This is known as an awakening. However, this word is often used for more dramatic things than getting out of bed. Having a religious epiphany is an awakening. Deciding to get married could be considered an awakening. Any time you realize or accept something important and life-changing, it can be called an awakening, because it's almost like you were asleep before.
Vocabulary lists containing awakening
May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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myPerspectives 8.1
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"The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century," Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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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:
“In my mind, that was the great awakening nationally for private label,” Volpe said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
A landmark 1962 Supreme Court ruling against state-sponsored prayer in public schools helped spark his political awakening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 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
In recent months, he’s posted about the Bible, launched a religious merch line and spoken about his religious awakening on the podcast circuit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Mother was awakening to the sorry facts: My biscuits were like stones, my samplers askew, my seams like rickrack.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Chronic short sleep, frequent awakenings or big drops in oxygen warrant a visit to the doctor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Participants who experienced more frequent micro awakenings also tended to have higher genetic risk, despite being healthy, relatively young and free of Alzheimer's symptoms.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026
A 2014 study that looked at the sleep diaries of 592 adults without sleep disorders found an average of 1.4 awakenings per night.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2025
If there was hope, and belief, that this type of performance was maybe behind them, then this was the rudest of rude awakenings.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2025
There had been a time when I’d loathed such rude awakenings.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
