wake-up call

noun

1. a telephone call that wakes a person from sleep

2. an event that alerts people to a danger or difficulty

Idioms and Phrases

A portentous event, report, or situation that brings an issue to immediate attention. For example, The rise in unemployment has given a wake-up call to state governments, or The success of the online subscription is a wake-up call to publishers. This metaphoric term originated in the second half of the 1900s for a telephone call arranged in advance to awaken a sleeper, especially in a hotel. Its figurative use dates from about 1990.

Example Sentences

That incident -- followed by a string of unexplained drone flights that rattled other European countries -- served as a wake-up call of the continent's vulnerabilities almost four years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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This was a wake-up call to Europe, marking one of the largest and most serious breaches of Nato airspace since the war in Ukraine began.

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In early July, Morgan Stanley received its first wake-up call.

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“That was a big wake-up call — we had 1 in 3 folks in 2020 be food insecure,” de la Haye said.

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"Let no-one be mistaken: the theft of the crown jewels is a resounding wake-up call," said the court's president, Pierre Moscovici.

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