Herb CaenCharles DickensLibrary Journal
Chris Kilham
Karola Saekel
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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'.
Examples of awaken in a Sentence
Conçetta Ciarlo, Vogue, 28 Apr. 2025
Then, a sudden twist propels the narrative into a surreal exploration of time, as Lazzaro awakens years later, unchanged, and ventures into a modern world where the injustices of the past persist in new forms.
—Travis Bean, Forbes.com, 25 Apr. 2025
As the earth awakens and the days grow longer, we're presented with the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of transformation, and plant seeds for the future.
—Valerie Mesa, People.com, 25 Apr. 2025
They were awakened by state troopers pounding on their doors at about 2 a.m. and forced to evacuate.
—Mark Scolforo, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for awaken
Cite this Entry
“Awaken.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awaken. Accessed 10 May. 2025.
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