wake

1 of 3

verb

ˈwāk 

woke ˈwōk  also waked wākt  ; woken ˈwō-kən  or waked also woke; waking

intransitive verb

1

a

: to be or remain awake

b

archaic : to remain awake on watch especially over a corpse

c

obsolete : to stay up late in revelry

2

: awake, wake up

They woke early.

transitive verb

1

: to stand watch over (someone or something)

especially : to hold a wake over

2

a

: to rouse from or as if from sleep : awake, wake up

Something woke her in the middle of the night.

b

: stir, excite

an experience that woke old feelings

c

: to arouse conscious interest in : alert

—usually used with to

woke the public to the risks

waker noun

wake

2 of 3

noun (1)

1

: the state of being awake

2

a(1)

: an annual English parish festival formerly held in commemoration of the church's patron saint

(2)

: vigil sense 3a

b

: the festivities originally connected with the wake of an English parish church

—usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction

c

British : an annual holiday or vacation

—usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction

3

: a watch held over the body of a dead person prior to burial and sometimes accompanied by festivity

wake

3 of 3

noun (2)

1

: the track left by a moving body (such as a ship) in a fluid (such as water)

broadly : a track or path left

2

: aftermath sense 3

Phrases

in the wake of

1

: close behind and in the same path of travel

missionaries arrived in the wake of conquistadors and soldiers

—Sabine MacCormack

2

: as a result of : as a consequence of

power vacuums left in the wake of the second world war

—A. M. Schlesinger born 1917

Synonyms

Verb

• arouse
• awake
• awaken
• knock up [British]
• rouse
• waken

Examples of wake in a Sentence

Verb

She can never remember her dreams upon waking.

my banging around in the kitchen woke my wife

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

But nothing beats the tradition of hiring mariachi bands or trios to serenade moms — sometimes early enough in the morning to wake them up! —Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 12 May 2024

That in turn creates a domino effect, waking all the other bats and making the whole colony waste precious energy. —Corey Buhay, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 May 2024

If the sunrise doesn’t wake you up in the morning, the chirping birds are there to ease you out of bed. —Ginger Perra, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 May 2024

That is very dangerous heat, considering thousands were without electricity and air conditioning in the storms wake. —Rob Marciano, ABC News, 28 Apr. 2024

People look at their phones every waking minute and have lost their conversational skills. —Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 26 Apr. 2024

Track their poop, pee, sleep, food, burps, wake windows, gas, eye movement, and whatever else on [an app]. —Beth Ann Mayer, Parents, 20 Apr. 2024

During sleep, the tongue obstructs the flow of oxygen, repeatedly waking the person repeatedly. —Gina Kolata, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2024

Bats across Indiana are waking from hibernation and moving out of their caves in search of food. —Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 16 Apr. 2024

Noun

In the wake of Musk’s arrival, new social media platforms like Bluesky, Threads, and Spill have jockeyed for the influence and impact that X once had, but have failed to capture the Black Twitter audience, Parham says. —Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 13 May 2024

Ramsay let go 300 staff in the 2020-2021 financial year as his restaurant group posted pre-tax losses of £6.8 million ($8.5 million) in the wake of extended lockdowns and a subsequent cost of living crisis. —Ryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 13 May 2024

This reticence prompted doctors to launch a campaign to market LARCs to women perceived to be at risk of unplanned pregnancy, a policy fixation in the wake of the welfare-reform push during the Clinton Administration. —Alana Semuels, TIME, 13 May 2024

Together, their experience consoles and empowers readers in the wake of a difficult pregnancy loss. —Laura Lu, Ms, Parents, 13 May 2024

Far from seeking to distance itself from Google in the wake of these revelations, Apple appears to be open to expanding the relationship. —Katie Paul, Fortune, 13 May 2024

The pro-life movement and its allies are doing a lot of indispensable policy work now in the wake of Dobbs. —Benjamin Watson, National Review, 12 May 2024

Though momentum is returning in the wake of him clinching the passage of an ambitious $1.25 billion bond plan to fund affordable housing and development, pockets of Johnson’s progressive base are restless. —A.d. Quig, Chicago Tribune, 12 May 2024

At least one agency, North Miami’s Citizens Investigative Board, opted to shutter in the wake of HB 601. —Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 30 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb

partly from Middle English waken (past wook, past participle waken), from Old English wacan to awake (past wōc, past participle wacen); partly from Middle English wakien, waken (past & past participle waked), from Old English wacian to be awake (past wacode, past participle wacod); akin to Old English wæccan to watch, Latin vegēre to enliven

Noun (2)

akin to Middle Low German wake wake, Norwegian dialect vok, Old Norse vǫk hole in ice

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun (1)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1627, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing wake

• in someone's or something's wake
• in the wake of
• wake and bake
• wake-robin
• wake up
• wake up and smell the coffee/roses
• wake-up call

Kids Definition

wake

1 of 3 verb

ˈwāk 

woke ˈwōk  also waked ˈwākt  ; woken ˈwō-kən  or waked also woke; waking

1

: to be or remain awake

2

: to stand watch over (as a dead body)

especially : to hold a wake over

3

: to arouse from or as if from sleep : awake

—often used with up

waker noun

wake

2 of 3 noun

: a time before a dead person is buried when people gather to remember him or her and often to view the body

wake

3 of 3 noun

1

: a track or path left by a moving body (as a ship) in the water

2

: aftermath sense 2

Etymology

Verb

from Old English wacan "to awake" and Old English wacian "to be awake"

Noun

of Germanic origin