wake

¹ American  

[weyk] / weɪk /

verb (used without object)

• wakes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• waked,
  past participle,  past
• woke,
  past
• woken,
  past participle
• waking
  present participle

1. to become roused from sleep; awake; awaken; waken (often followed byup ).

   Antonyms:

   sleep

2. to become roused from a tranquil or inactive state; awaken; waken.

   to wake from one's daydreams.

3. to become cognizant or aware of something; awaken; waken.

   to wake to the true situation.

4. to be or continue to be awake.

   Whether I wake or sleep, I think of you.

5. to remain awake for some purpose, duty, etc..

   I will wake until you return.

6. to hold a wake over a corpse.

7. to keep watch or vigil.

---

verb (used with object)

• wakes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• waked,
  past participle,  past
• woke,
  past
• woken,
  past participle
• waking
  present participle

1. to rouse from sleep; awake; awaken; waken (often followed byup ).

   Don't wake me for breakfast. Wake me up at six o'clock.

   Synonyms:

   arouse

2. to rouse from lethargy, apathy, ignorance, etc. (often followed byup ).

   The tragedy woke us up to the need for safety precautions.

   Synonyms:

   provoke, kindle, animate, activate, stimulate

3. to hold a wake for or over (a dead person).

4. to keep watch or vigil over.

noun

1. a watching, or a watch kept, especially for some solemn or ceremonial purpose.

2. a watch or vigil by the body of a dead person before burial, sometimes accompanied by feasting or merrymaking.

3. a local annual festival in England, formerly held in honor of the patron saint or on the anniversary of the dedication of a church but now usually having little or no religious significance.

4. the state of being awake.

   between sleep and wake.

wake ² American  

[weyk] / weɪk /

noun

1. the track of waves left by a ship or other object moving through the water.

   The wake of the boat glowed in the darkness.

2. the path or course of anything that has passed or preceded.

   The tornado left ruin in its wake.

---

idioms

1. in the wake of,

   1. as a result of.

      An investigation followed in the wake of the scandal.

   2. succeeding; following.

      in the wake of the pioneers.

wake ¹ British  

/ weɪk /

verb

1. (often foll by up) to rouse or become roused from sleep

2. (often foll by up) to rouse or become roused from inactivity

3. (intr; often foll by to or up to) to become conscious or aware

   at last he woke to the situation

4. (intr) to be or remain awake

5. (tr) to arouse (feelings etc)

6. dialect to hold a wake over (a corpse)

7. archaic to keep watch over

8. informal to face up to reality, especially in an unpleasant situation

---

noun

1. a watch or vigil held over the body of a dead person during the night before burial

2. (in Ireland) festivities held after a funeral

3. the patronal or dedication festival of English parish churches

4. a solemn or ceremonial vigil

5. (usually plural) an annual holiday in any of various towns in northern England, when the local factory or factories close, usually for a week or two weeks

6. rare the state of being awake

wake ² British  

/ weɪk /

noun

1. the waves or track left by a vessel or other object moving through water

2. the track or path left by anything that has passed

   wrecked houses in the wake of the hurricane

---

wake Cultural  

1. A funeral celebration, common in Ireland, at which the participants stay awake all night keeping watch over the body of the dead person before burial. A wake traditionally involves a good deal of feasting and drinking.

---

wake More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing wake

• in the wake of
• to wake the dead

---

Usage

Where there is an object and the sense is the literal one wake ( up ) and waken are the commonest forms: I wakened him; I woke him ( up ). Both verbs are also commonly used without an object: I woke up . Awake and awaken are preferred to other forms of wake where the sense is a figurative one: he awoke to the danger

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• waker
  noun
• half-waking
  adjective
• unwaked
  adjective
• unwaking
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• waking
  present
• waked
  past
• woken
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• wake
  simple
• wakes
  simple
• have waked
  perfect
• have woken
  perfect
• has waked
  perfect
• has woken
  perfect
• am waking
  progressive
• are waking
  progressive
• is waking
  progressive
• have been waking
  perfect progressive
• has been waking
  perfect progressive

Past

• waked
  simple
• woke
  simple
• had waked
  perfect
• had woken
  perfect
• was waking
  progressive
• were waking
  progressive
• had been waking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will wake
  simple
• will have waked
  perfect
• will have woken
  perfect
• will be waking
  progressive
• will have been waking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of wake¹

First recorded before 900; (verb) in sense “to become awake” continuing Middle English waken, Old English wacan ; in sense “to be awake” continuing Middle English waken, Old English wacian (cognate with Old Frisian wakia, Old Saxon wakōn, Old Norse vaka, Gothic wakan ); in sense “to rouse from sleep” continuing Middle English waken, replacing Middle English wecchen, Old English weccan; (noun) Middle English: “state of wakefulness, vigil,” probably continuing unattested Old English wacu (found in nihtwacu “night-watch”); all ultimately from unattested Germanic wak- “be lively”; akin to watch, vegetate; cf. waken

Origin of wake²

First recorded in 1540–50; from Middle Low German, Dutch wake, or Old Norse vǫk, vaka “opening or hole in the ice”

Explanation

In the wake, or aftermath, of a death, it's traditional in many cultures to hold a wake, a vigil for the dead. There's a third meaning of wake, too, you know: it's the waves that a boat leaves behind as it slices through the water. And that's not all... Wake has three meanings as a noun, and, yes, just about as many meanings as a verb! So get set. To wake is come out of sleep, a verb you'll recognize from "Wake up! You're asleep at the wheel!" You can wake feelings, as well as the people who are having them. The wake before the funeral caused Mike to wake from his depression and decide to live life to the fullest. His first act was to water ski; he eventually mastered staying upright while crossing the wake of the boat that was towing him.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wake wakes waked woke woken waking

Investors turned to bitcoin and gold last week as the U.S. dollar weakened and Treasury yields climbed in the wake of the buyback announcement.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026

One of the largest public immigration raids associated with the campaign happened in the wake of the 1931 La Placita raid on Olvera Street in downtown L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Saudi Arabia, a close US ally which has a history of tensions with Iran, is also closely watching developments in the Islamic republic in the wake of the US-Israeli war.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

What will it take for them to wake up?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

I wake up on July 3 to a text from Skye.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

He said he wakes up to the sounds of black-bellied whistling ducks every morning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

From the minute an athlete wakes, to the moment they go to bed, they are thinking about how they can optimise their performance and recovery.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Researchers calculate CAR by measuring cortisol immediately after a person wakes and then measuring it again 30 minutes later.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026

“His day is planned from the second he wakes up to the minute he goes to sleep.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

JP says his momma wakes him at the crack of dawn by turning gospel music on high, and he gets up and starts cleaning.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

Hurts had one last chance and his desperation pass fell way short and he waked off the field in dejection.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 12, 2023

Since the Australian show — now in its third season — reached American audiences on Disney+ in early 2020, parents have waked in the night with the melodica-driven theme song on hyperloop in their heads.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2023

Every morning, before most of the surrounding world has waked up, P.J.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 5, 2019

He has waked up the sleeping giant that is the Philadelphia Orchestra.

From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2018

It was a moonlight night, and about one o’clock Flo and I were waked by the most delicious music under our windows.

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

When he woke up after his crash, Mark was terrified his "life was over" and feared he would be reliant on his parents for the rest of his life.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Spain's cherished tourist hotspot of Granada was in shock on Saturday after a rare 5.0-magnitude earthquake woke residents in the middle of the night and damaged buildings.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

States didn’t rush into this area because governors and legislators woke up one morning wanting to manage college sports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

CEUTA, Spain—Obaid Aleilmi woke up on a recent afternoon, after working the night shift, to a flood of messages on his phone saying the border was open.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

I dozed for an hour and woke to find Black Star stretched out beside me, fast asleep.

From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell

"We were able to get to the hospital in time but if I hadn't woken up, I wouldn't be here."

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

Fed officials have now woken up to the inflationary part of the AI story.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

Called “Situational Awareness,” the essay proclaimed that AI would soon become more powerful than humans and that most of the world hadn’t woken up to this reality.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Taylor's parents described how they were woken by a call from her best friend in the early hours of the morning.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

She must have just been woken up, Moss thought.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro

For the next couple of weeks, she’d couch surf until ultimately sleeping in her van, waking up early to wait tables at an oyster bar on Sunset Boulevard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

What time do you get up on Mondays, and what’s the first thing you do after waking up?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

"They fly overhead, whether we're waking up in the morning -- at 7 am even -- or when we're going to bed, they're always flying about. So no-one's safe."

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

Hot nights can make it harder to fall asleep, increase waking during the night and leave people feeling less rested the next day.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

At first, I felt self-conscious, worried about waking the others, and awkward eating alone in their midst, but I needn’t have worried.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

Related Words

• aftermath
• wave