wakeful

American  

[weyk-fuhl] / ˈweɪk fəl /

adjective

1. unable to sleep; not sleeping; indisposed to sleep.

   Excitement made the children wakeful.

   Synonyms:

   restless, insomniac, awake, sleepless

   Antonyms:

   sleeping, asleep

2. characterized by absence of sleep.

   a wakeful night.

   Antonyms:

   sleepful

3. watchful; alert; vigilant.

   a wakeful foe.

   Synonyms:

   observant, wary

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wakeful British  

/ ˈweɪkfʊl /

adjective

1. unable or unwilling to sleep

2. sleepless

3. alert

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Other Word Forms

• unwakeful adjective
• unwakefully adverb
• unwakefulness noun
• wakefully adverb
• wakefulness noun

Etymology

Origin of wakeful

First recorded in 1540–50; wake ¹ + -ful

Example Sentences

Blocking these receptors leads to a more wakeful state that can increase focus, said Dr. Oliver Grundmann, who studies how plants affect the brain at the University of Florida.

From Salon • Dec. 22, 2024

Identifying processes in the brain that underlie sleep-deprived boosting of mood could lead to therapies that are less burdensome than enduring a wakeful night.

From Scientific American • Jul. 3, 2023

“Considering that CIA has been crippled, it will be natural that this service tries to restore and rebuild itself, and of course Iranian intelligence community will always be wakeful and vigilant,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 22, 2019

Here, Mr. Scott, a wakeful drummer with an elastic funk attack, has organized a benefit to help his hometown recover from Hurricane Harvey.

From New York Times • Sep. 28, 2017

Hunger, perhaps, more than mistrust kept him wakeful: he had begun to long for a good homely meal, 'something hot out of the pot’.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien