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• wide-awake
  wide-awake

  adjective

  fully awake; with the eyes wide open.
• wide awake
  wide awake

  Fully awake; also, very alert. For example, He lay there, wide awake, unable to sleep, or She was wide awake to all the possibilities. The wide in this idiom alludes to the eyes being wide open. [Early 1800s]

wide-awake

American  

[wahyd-uh-wayk] / ˈwaɪd əˈweɪk /

adjective

1. fully awake; with the eyes wide open.

   Synonyms:

   unsleeping, astir, wakeful, open-eyed, awake

   Antonyms:

   restful, sleeping, asleep, somnolent, lethargic, drowsy, sleepy

2. alert, keen, or knowing.

   a wide-awake young woman.

   Synonyms:

   astute, quick, sharp, vigilant, watchful

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noun

1. Also called wide-awake hat. a soft, low-crowned felt hat.

2. the sooty tern.

wide-awake British  

adjective

1. fully awake

2. keen, alert, or observant

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noun

1. Also called: wide-awake hat. a hat with a low crown and very wide brim

wide awake Idioms  

1. Fully awake; also, very alert. For example, He lay there, wide awake, unable to sleep, or She was wide awake to all the possibilities. The wide in this idiom alludes to the eyes being wide open. [Early 1800s]

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Other Word Forms

• wide-awakeness
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of wide-awake

First recorded in 1810–20

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wide-awake wide awake

I’m grateful to have seen it in a theater, which it absolutely deserves; audiences planning to stream it at home should know that it demands and rewards wide-awake attention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2023

Anthony Amsterdam was in California and wide-awake in the predawn hours on June 29, 1972, glued to the news as he awaited word from the U.S.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 6, 2022

According to the wide-awake folks at Partners Coffee, the ideal ratio of coffee to water is 1:15.

From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2022

Soon enough you’ll be looking for a happy, wide-awake emoji with stars in its eyes.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2021

If I wanted to wake her, all I’d need to say is “Oprah” and she’d be wide-awake, hollering for her Coke-bottle glasses and for me to turn on the TV.

From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

He’s wide awake when he should be asleep because the middle of the night also happens to be his favorite time to work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Or, finding yourself wide awake at 3am, brain whirring and no prospect of sleep.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

But he told AFP he still wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night "wide awake thinking about this piece."

From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026

“People aren’t just independently jumping in their car wide awake — it’s chaos.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2025

Well, by lunchtime I’m wide awake and I’ve already been busy doing my chores and learning and having some fun.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

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