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.
-
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
-
(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
-
have been awakingperfect progressive
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has been awakingperfect progressive
Past
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awakedsimple
-
awokesimple
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had awokeperfect
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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:
Sometime after 3 a.m. that July 8, the roar of the incoming surge jolted Santosh Adhikari awake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
After arriving in the morning, the players stayed awake until evening.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Earlier research has linked greater amounts of sedentary behavior, including sitting, reclining, or lying down while awake, with poorer health outcomes.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
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
Soon I heard the rhythm of their snores, but I stayed awake for a long time, thinking over their words, thinking on one word.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
The Amazon MGM film, which stars Ryan Gosling as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a dimming sun, has earned nearly $257 million in total domestically.
From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 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
Billy cried very little, though he often saw things worth crying about, and in that respect, at least, he resembled the Christ of the carol: The cattle are lowing, The Baby awakes.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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
Knaak said not once during this spell has he awaked wondering how to engage with fans that day.
From New York Times ● Nov. 14, 2014
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
Retired worn out; slept soundly; awaked by mate telling me that both man of watch and steersman missing.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
When that man awoke he called for help.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 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
I gathered dried leaves to light the dung in the stove so the water for tea would be boiling when the family awoke.
From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan
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
Palace night duty manager Abel Clarke said his room was above the golden toilet exhibition and that he was awoken by a fire alarm.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025
In the closing decades of the nineteenth century the sleeping giant of Russia had awoken.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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
Unable to find a hotel one night, he had slept on the ground, awaking the next morning to find himself beneath an olive tree.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
