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.
Megan Thee Stallion addressed the health scare on Instagram, calling it a “real wake-up call for me.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 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
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine called the negative outlook “a sobering wake-up call about the fiscal challenges ahead for us,” noting that it is the city’s first negative outlook since the Covid-19 crisis.
From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026
Fidelito admitted to gagging over plankton milk shakes, and Chacho said he used bad words when the wake-up bell went off.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
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.
