wake-up call

British  

noun

1. a telephone call that wakes a person from sleep

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

---

wake-up call Idioms  

1. 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

So you’ll be hitting your gut and training hard, but it’s also a wake-up call to diet,” he told The Times.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026

But other countries see the war as a wake-up call.

From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026

While a variety of factors drove China to invest in research, the Covid pandemic was a wake-up call that accelerated these efforts.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

Reprieve deputy chief executive Dan Dolan said: "This important intervention should be a wake-up call for the UK government, which is not doing nearly enough to help this young British man."

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

The more I thought about it, the more I was sure that Fig had slept all day, except for the 5:42 a.m. wake-up call.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas