Definition of WAKE-UP CALL

Examples of wake-up call in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Part of this is a wake-up call; everybody was chasing the stock market and getting rich. — Susan Slusser, SFChronicle.com, "A’s Gone By: Reggie Jackson thinks baseball could be back soon," 12 May 2020 The logo and its font, called Gotham, now has its own Wikipedia page, and served as a wake-up call for scholars to begin studying the role typography plays in political communication. — Daniel Tamul, The Conversation, "Typefaces have personality – and can be political," 6 May 2020 The quake in Croatia was one of the earliest wake-up calls for people around the world that natural hazards still loom large during the COVID-19 pandemic, including floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and even volcanic eruptions. — National Geographic, "Social distancing during disasters," 17 Apr. 2020 Whether the clear canals have to do with a decrease in pollution or the result of less physical movement in the waterways, the photo serves as a wake-up call about how our actions and activities affect the environment. — Kelly Corbett, House Beautiful, "The Canals in Venice Are So Still, You Can See Fish and Swans Have Returned," 17 Mar. 2020 Perhaps the concussion and black eye should have been a wake-up call to slow down. — Malia Griggs, SELF, "I Quit My Job Because of Burnout," 21 Jan. 2020 Like many, Weisman hopes that this coronavirus will serve as a wake-up call to prepare for the possibility of a more lethal virus in the future. — Los Angeles Times, "Column: Bears thriving at Yosemite. Clear skies. Does coronavirus reveal a ‘World Without Us’?," 14 Apr. 2020 But Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula was a wake-up call. — Washington Post, "Defense budgets set to dominate yet another NATO summit," 2 Dec. 2019 Last year’s string of hurricanes—including Harvey, Irma and Maria—was a wake-up call to many people of the limitations of their homeowners’ policies. — Coulter Jones, WSJ, "Fewer Households in Hurricane Florence’s Path Have Flood Insurance Than in 2013," 13 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wake-up call.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.