wide-awake

[wahyd-uh-weyk]

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

noun

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

2. the sooty tern.

wide-awake

adjective

1. fully awake

2. keen, alert, or observant

noun

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

Other Word Forms

• wide-awakeness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wide-awake¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

Penelope whispered to the children that they ought to let Mrs. Apple sleep, but they were wide-awake and much too excited to stay quiet.

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Midnight, and the children were wide-awake in their beds.

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The combination of being nocturnal and being bombarded with sight and sound kept me wide-awake.

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All that suggests that the case will keep jurors wide-awake during the six or so weeks it is projected to take.

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She does provide intricate detail about, for instance, how the station’s drinking water gets recycled from everyone’s urine, or how “the wide-awake, always-awake station vibrates with fans and filters.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times