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• wide-awake
  wide-awake

  adjective

  fully awake; with the eyes wide open.
• wide awake
  wide awake

  Fully awake; also, very alert. For example, He lay there, wide awake, unable to sleep, or She was wide awake to all the possibilities. The wide in this idiom alludes to the eyes being wide open. [Early 1800s]

wide-awake

American  

[wahyd-uh-weyk] / ˈwaɪd əˈweɪk /

adjective

1. fully awake; with the eyes wide open.

   Synonyms:

   unsleeping, astir, wakeful, open-eyed, awake

   Antonyms:

   restful, sleeping, asleep, somnolent, lethargic, drowsy, sleepy

2. alert, keen, or knowing.

   a wide-awake young woman.

   Synonyms:

   astute, quick, sharp, vigilant, watchful

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noun

1. Also called wide-awake hat.  a soft, low-crowned felt hat.

2. the sooty tern.

wide-awake British  

adjective

1. fully awake

2. keen, alert, or observant

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noun

1. Also called: wide-awake hat.  a hat with a low crown and very wide brim

wide awake Idioms  

1. Fully awake; also, very alert. For example, He lay there, wide awake, unable to sleep, or She was wide awake to all the possibilities. The wide in this idiom alludes to the eyes being wide open. [Early 1800s]

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Other Word Forms

• wide-awakeness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of wide-awake

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wide-awake wide awake

I’m grateful to have seen it in a theater, which it absolutely deserves; audiences planning to stream it at home should know that it demands and rewards wide-awake attention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2023

But nodding off on the couch in the evening and then feeling wide-awake once you get into bed is “a typical pattern in chronic insomnia,” Pelayo says.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2022

According to the wide-awake folks at Partners Coffee, the ideal ratio of coffee to water is 1:15.

From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2022

She was back to deuce with Arthur Ashe Stadium abuzz and presumably most of Britain wide-awake, as the match was broadcast in prime time in Raducanu’s home country.

From New York Times ● Sep. 11, 2021

But this time there was something that kept them as wide-awake as possible: for as soon as they had got out on to the grass, they found that they were not alone.

From "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis

But he told AFP he still wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night "wide awake thinking about this piece."

From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026

Since then, I’ve asked it about helping with a nap schedule and used it as a sounding board to complain at 2 a.m. when my baby is wide awake — and I’m not alone.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2025

This was a deep, calming state, one in which I was wide awake but unable to zero in on a specific thought or concern.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2025

It was hours until dawn, but all were wide awake, the chatter incessant.

From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2023

Nathan was wide awake and wouldn’t be able to go to sleep for hours.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young