woke up also waked up; woken up also waked up; waking up; wakes up
: 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
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 toa 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
Emily BenedekExamples of wake-up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Tom Philp, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026
An optimist might say this was a wake-up call.
—Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2026
Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 7 Jan. 2026
Go to bed and wake up routinely.
—Sohaib Imtiaz, Verywell Health, 5 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wake-up
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Adjective
Our brazen pursuit of the world’s largest remaining oil reserves should serve as a wake-up call to California and its waning commitment to an independent, renewable energy future.
—Tom Philp, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026
An optimist might say this was a wake-up call.
—Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2026
Verb
Iran woke up over the weekend to dramatic scenes of US forces landing in the Venezuelan capital Caracas to capture Tehran’s ally President Nicolas Maduro and move him to the US in a brazen nighttime operation that saw the president and his wife get dragged out of their bedroom.
—Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 7 Jan. 2026
Go to bed and wake up routinely.
—Sohaib Imtiaz, Verywell Health, 5 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wake-up
Cite this Entry
“Wake-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wake-up. Accessed 10 Jan. 2026.
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