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

Still, midnight drives with a wakeful infant aren’t quite the same test he faces in his latest TV role.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 11, 2024

Early morning light is detected by the suprachiasmatic gland, which sits above the optic nerves, and its instructions cause our bodies to stop melatonin production so we can feel wakeful throughout the day.

From Scientific American • Mar. 17, 2022

Could it be possible that Bunny was dreaming about a strange animal she encountered during her wakeful hours?

From Salon • Jul. 24, 2021

I was struck by the recurrent image of sleeping women and vigilantly wakeful ones — like Penelope — in literature and art.

From New York Times • Dec. 2, 2018

There was something else, something inherently evil had drifted into my wakeful consciousness, a bad dream of some kind—a warning, perhaps.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall