wake-up

American  

[weyk-uhp] / ˈweɪkˌʌp /

noun

1. an act or instance of waking up.

2. an act or instance of being awakened.

   I asked the hotel desk for a wake-up at 6.

3. a time of awaking or being awakened.

   I'll need a 5 o'clock wake-up to make the early plane.

4. flicker.

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adjective

1. serving to wake one from sleep.

   Tell the front desk you want a wake-up call.

2. serving to arouse or alert.

   a wake-up call on the problems of pollution.

wake-up British  

noun

1. informal an alert or intelligent person

2. informal to be fully alert to (a person, thing, action, etc)

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Etymology

Origin of wake-up

First recorded in 1835–45; noun, adj. use of verb phrase wake up

Example Sentences

The “Messy” hitmaker told Rolling Stone in a recent interview that she was grateful that she fainted onstage late last year, and framed the scary ordeal as a wake-up call.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

"We can call it a wake-up call," says Breuer.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

“The fact that non-fuel import prices increased so much is a wake-up call for policymakers and will keep the Federal Reserve in pause for longer than expected,” said Eugenio Aleman, chief economist at Raymond James.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 25, 2026

Another wake-up app is Alarmy, which has its roughly 900,000 daily U.S. users complete “missions” such as doing squats, shaking their phone or typing out motivational quotes before it stops sounding.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

Susan B. Anthony’s first major wake-up call about the need for women’s equality came in January 1852 when the Sons of Temperance invited Anthony to a statewide meeting in Albany, New York.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Related Words

• agitate
• amaze
• anger
• animate
• annoy
• astound
• bother
• delight
• disturb
• energize
• irritate
• offend
• thrill
• turn on
• vex
• work up
• worry