wake-up

1 of 2

adjective

ˈwāk-ˌəp 

: serving to wake up

a wake-up alarm

wake up

2 of 2

verb

woke up also waked up; woken up also waked up; waking up; wakes up

transitive + intransitive

: awake entry 1, wake entry 1: such as

a

: to cease sleeping : to become awake

I woke up late this morning.

When I woke up on Monday the sky was the color of mercury, and the air was heavy with moisture.

—Ann M. Martin

b

: to rouse (a person or animal) from or as if from sleep

The sound of a door slamming woke him up.

c

: to become aware or to make (someone) aware of something (such as an existing problem or danger)

They finally woke up and realized what was happening.

—usually used with to

a study that woke people up to the importance of regular exercise

In 1997, … Jacob Nielsen predicted that if newspapers didn't wake up to the threat of online classified advertising and dominate the field by 1998, many of them would die within a decade.

—Emily Benedek

d

: to make (something) active : arouse, stir

"And what joy and cheerfulness it wakes up within us, to see all nature beaming in brightness and sunshine …" added Alice …

—Charles Dickens

Examples of wake-up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

This is a wake-up call for workers across all industries. —Mark Francis, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025

That moment was a wake-up call. —Paul Hudson, Fortune, 2 Sep. 2025

Verb

The night the floods hit, McDougal woke up to crashing and thought someone had broken into her home. —Hope Karnopp, jsonline.com, 22 Aug. 2025

Julia thinks so too, and presses in, sucking in a breath when Ellen mentions Fairy Hill and how people dance into the nights and wake up a hundred years later. —Lincee Ray Published, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1946, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1767, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for wake-up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup