awake

1 of 2

verb

awoke ə-ˈwōk How to pronounce awake (audio) also awaked ə-ˈwākt How to pronounce awake (audio) ; awoken ə-ˈwō-kən How to pronounce awake (audio) also awaked or awoke; awaking

intransitive verb

1
: to cease sleeping : to wake up
She awoke late that morning.
The next day we awoke to the sound of drums.Sarah Ferrell
2
: to become aroused or active again
when the volcano awoke
3
: to become conscious or aware of something
awoke to the possibilities
At the same time, Italian prosecutors awoke to the international magnitude of their Sicilian underworld …Selwyn Raab

transitive verb

1
: to arouse from sleep or a sleeplike state
He was awoken by the storm.
2
: to make active : to stir up
an experience that awoke old memories

awake

2 of 2

adjective

: fully conscious, alert, and aware : not asleep
I'm so tired I can barely stay awake.

Did you know?

The Past Tense Forms of Awake and Awaken

Awake and awaken are two distinct verbs that mean the same thing. In other words, they're synonyms, and in the present tense they each behave the way English verbs typically behave:

The cat awakes at dawn.

The cat awakens at dawn.

Things get trickier in the past tense.

Our modern verb awake is the result of the long-ago melding of two older verbs. These verbs were very similar, but one had regular past tense forms (like play: played, has played) and the other had irregular past tense forms (like take: took, has taken).

When the two verbs melded into the modern awake (which was a process over many years), things got complicated, resulting ultimately in the following grammatically permissible sentences:

The cat awaked at dawn.

The cat awoke at dawn.

The cat was awaked by the mouse at dawn.

The cat was awoken by the mouse at dawn.

Note, though, that at this point, these are the most common:

The cat awoke at dawn.

The cat was awoken by the mouse at dawn.

That's the story of awake. Fortunately awaken (which was originally one of the past tense forms of awake) is simpler. It's a regular verb, which means it has the usual past tense forms:

The cat awakened at dawn.

The cat was awakened at dawn by a mouse.

As if all this weren't complicated enough, awake is also an adjective:

Because of the cat, I too am now awake.

For a detailed discussion of the history of these words, please see the The Grammatical History of 'Awaken' / 'Awoken' / 'Awakened'.

Choose the Right Synonym for awake

aware, cognizant, conscious, sensible, alive, awake mean having knowledge of something.

aware implies vigilance in observing or alertness in drawing inferences from what one experiences.

aware of changes in climate

cognizant implies having special or certain knowledge as from firsthand sources.

not fully cognizant of the facts

conscious implies that one is focusing one's attention on something or is even preoccupied by it.

conscious that my heart was pounding

sensible implies direct or intuitive perceiving especially of intangibles or of emotional states or qualities.

sensible of a teacher's influence

alive adds to sensible the implication of acute sensitivity to something.

alive to the thrill of danger

awake implies that one has become alive to something and is on the alert.

a country always awake to the threat of invasion

Examples of awake in a Sentence

Verb She fell asleep immediately but awoke an hour later. I awoke several times during the night. The baby awoke from his nap. The alarm awoke me early. They were awoken by a loud bang. Adjective Drinking coffee keeps him awake. I am so tired I can barely stay awake. She was lying awake, tossing and turning. One moment she was sleeping soundly—the next she was wide awake.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
In New Hampshire, apple growers who went to bed with orchards full of pink blossoms awoke to petals turning brown. Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024 On an autumn morning in 1986, his 11th birthday, Edwin Lard awoke in a house with no grown-ups. Olivia Diaz, Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2024 For Tameka Bradley Hobbs, the Library Regional Manager for the African American Research Library and Cultural Center, her first Black history class at FAMU awoke in her a passion for the subject itself. C. Isaiah Smalls Ii, Miami Herald, 1 Mar. 2024 People in various parts of Greater Cincinnati may have awoken to a light dusting of snow outside their homes and atop their vehicles as flurries showered the region Saturday morning. Aaron Valdez, The Enquirer, 24 Feb. 2024 The overdose victims calmly fall asleep never to awake. Alabama could have mercifully used such a drug. Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 1 Feb. 2024 Except for one thing: the incident has awoken the newly deceased. Marta Balaga, Variety, 20 Jan. 2024 Rosa had awoken early that morning, as dawn broke across the Purus, flat and gray. Bishop Sand, Washington Post, 17 Feb. 2024 Pakistanis across the political spectrum and income strata have awoken to the primacy of natural systems for sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation. Saleem H. Ali, Forbes, 9 Feb. 2024
Adjective
William Lin, 16, was awake and tried to fend off Shi before he was beaten to death with a lead pipe, allege prosecutors. Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2024 To broaden the audience—and help people stay awake until the final awards are given out—the show will start an hour earlier than normal, kicking off at 7:00 p.m. ET. Chris Morris, Fortune, 10 Mar. 2024 In court filings, Walters alleged Warner forced her hand into his underwear, whipped her, threw dishes at her, pushed her into a wall, broke down doors to get to her, charged at her, and forced her to stay awake for 48 hours straight, one time requiring her to stand on a chair for 12 hours. Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2024 The soft sunrise light replaces the need for a harsh alarm clock by easing you awake with a warm light that becomes brighter over time. Adria Greenhauff, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Mar. 2024 Maybe Mandy spent the night awake, rigid, waiting to see if Roy would get up as if to use the bathroom, say her name in a loud whisper, and then, on receiving no response, creep trembling down the stairs toward the fold-out bed. Fiona McFarlane, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024 The afternoon following the show in late January, Minogue is in her favorite sweats, sipping tea in the empty Voltaire space and looking surprisingly awake. Rebecca Milzoff, Billboard, 29 Feb. 2024 On the morning of the wedding, which was held down the road from Fleming’s Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, the happy couple were jarred awake by the croaking of an unknown bird. James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2024 A little over two years ago, in the dead of a quiet night in late February 2022, pretty much every journalist in Ukraine was wide awake. TIME, 2 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'awake.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb and Adjective

Middle English awaken (from Old English awacan, onwacan, from a- entry 1, on + wacan to awake) & awakien, from Old English awacian, from a- entry 1 + wacian to be awake — more at wake

First Known Use

Verb

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

Adjective

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of awake was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near awake

Cite this Entry

“Awake.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awake. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

awake

1 of 2 verb
awoke -ˈwōk How to pronounce awake (audio) also awaked -ˈwākt How to pronounce awake (audio) ; awoken -ˈwō-kən How to pronounce awake (audio) or awaked also awoke; awaking
1
: to arouse from sleep : wake up
2
: to become aware of something
awoke to their danger
3
: to make or become active : stir
awoke old memories

awake

2 of 2 adjective
1
: not sleeping
2

More from Merriam-Webster on awake

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