wake-up
Americannoun
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an act or instance of waking up.
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an act or instance of being awakened.
I asked the hotel desk for a wake-up at 6.
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a time of awaking or being awakened.
I'll need a 5 o'clock wake-up to make the early plane.
adjective
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serving to wake one from sleep.
Tell the front desk you want a wake-up call.
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serving to arouse or alert.
a wake-up call on the problems of pollution.
noun
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informal an alert or intelligent person
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informal to be fully alert to (a person, thing, action, etc)
Etymology
Origin of wake-up
First recorded in 1835–45; noun, adj. use of verb phrase wake up
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.
I wake up every morning still happy to see you?
From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026
Yet Mnuchin also isn’t anticipating “a make-or-break moment where one day we wake up and we can’t finance the debt,” he said Tuesday during a Bloomberg TV interview.
From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026
I would do anything for this tiny creature, but it’s not great for her to wake up so much.
From Slate • May 3, 2026
I use a Hatch alarm clock because I love the gentle wake up of the light.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026
I needed to change and wake up Mom.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
