SINCE 1828

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

wideawake

play

noun wide·awake \ˌwīd-ə-ˈwāk\

Definition of wideawake

1 : a soft felt hat with a low crown and a wide brim
2 : sooty tern

First Known Use of wideawake

1837

Learn More about wideawake

See words that rhyme with wideawake

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up wideawake? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show

WORD OF THE DAY

scapegrace

play

an incorrigible rascal

Words at Play

alt-5947fc40f1b5c

In Tech, What Does 'K' Mean?

A buzzword with a long history.

alt-5951697e1a410

When To Use 'Specious' vs. 'Spurious'

These similar words are not interchangeable

alt-594bf2ec5f26e

Quick: Read This!

'Quick' once had a very different meaning

alt-594d2b6325245

'Pride': The Word That Went From Vice to Strength

Do you take pride in Pride?

Ask the Editors

Is it wrong to use 'decimate' to mean 'destroy'?

Language changes

The Serial Comma

Why don't they call it the Merriam-Webster comma?

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless

Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals

Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us

June 2017 Words of the Day Quiz

Summer's first WOTD quiz.

Take the quiz

alt-5941ad7527c3c

Yearbook Superlatives Quiz

Is that your picture under "Largest Vocabulary"?

Take the quiz

Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Take the quiz

Word Winder's CrossWinder

Word Winder's CrossWinder

A game of winding words.

Play the game