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.
The comedian stopped trying to force himself to wake up at 4:30 a.m.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026
We wake up early, drink some coffee and get our 1-year-old ready for daycare.
From Salon • Jun. 24, 2026
“I want to make sure it’s the last thing I think about when I go to bed,” he said recently, “and the first thing that I wake up to.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2026
But the prime minister will wake up to see the stonking scale of Burnham's victory.
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2026
At first the fire in the birch-bark roll refused to wake up, even when he blew on it coaxingly, and Renn fed it morsels of tinder warmed in her hands.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
