awake

awake — adjective

1. with your eyes open and your mind working, rather than sleeping.

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

with your eyes open and your mind working, rather than sleeping.

Example

Nadia lay awake until three in the morning, listening to the heavy rain.

lie awake (unable to sleep)

The baby is usually awake by six and starts crying for milk.

be awake by [time]

Common collocations
  • wide awake
  • stay awake
  • lie awake
  • keep someone awake
  • half awake
Synonyms
  • alert

    stresses being mentally sharp, not just not sleeping

  • conscious

    more clinical; often used after illness or a knock

  • up

    informal; means out of bed and awake

Antonyms
  • asleep

    the direct opposite for the sleep meaning

  • drowsy

    halfway between awake and asleep

Grammar Patterns

be/stay/lie + awake

Usage Note

Used only after a linking verb such as 'be', 'stay', 'lie', or 'keep' — never directly before a noun. To describe a noun directly, use 'waking' (waking hours) instead.

Common Mistakes

I saw an awake child in the room.
I saw a child who was awake in the room.
'awake' cannot sit directly before the noun it describes.
I am very awake now.
I am wide awake now.
pair 'awake' with 'wide' or 'fully', not with 'very'.

2. noticing something important — for example, a danger or an opportunity — and rea

2.adjectiveC1
Definition

noticing something important — for example, a danger or an opportunity — and ready to act on it.

Example

The mayor is finally awake to the housing crisis facing young families in the city.

be awake to + social issue

Investors must stay awake to small changes in the stock market each morning.

stay awake to + risk/change

Common collocations
  • awake to the danger
  • awake to the possibility
  • awake to the reality
  • fully awake to
Synonyms
  • aware

    everyday word; 'awake to' is more formal and stresses readiness to act

  • alive to

    very close in meaning; slightly more literary

  • alert to

    stresses watching out for danger

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

be awake to + noun

Usage Note

Almost always used in the structure 'be/stay awake to + noun', and the noun is usually a problem, danger, or opportunity. Distinguish from sense 1 (NOT SLEEPING): here the focus is mental awareness, not the state of the eyes.

Common Mistakes

She is awake about the new rules.
She is awake to the new rules.
the preposition is 'to', never 'about' or 'of'.

awake — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe someone who is not sleeping, but they pull in different directions. 'Awake' is the neutral, most common choice and simply contrasts with 'asleep' — Nadia lay awake at 3 a.m. 'Alert' adds mental sharpness and readiness to react; a tired guard may be awake but not alert. 'Conscious' has a clinical flavour and is preferred after illness, anaesthesia, or a blow to the head — the patient is conscious but still confused. 'Up' is informal and means out of bed: the kids are up at six does not just mean their eyes are open. So you can be awake without being up (lying in bed), and up without being fully alert (still groggy at the breakfast table).

awake ↗alert ↗conscious ↗up

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • lie awake
  • stay awake
  • keep someone awake
  • wide awake
  • awake to the truth

Prepositions

  • to (be awake to something)
  • from (awake from a dream)

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

'Awake' comes from Old English 'awacian' meaning 'to come out of sleep', built from the prefix 'a-' (used to intensify the verb) plus 'wacian' (to be or stay awake). The same root gives us the modern verb 'wake' and the adjective 'watchful'. The adjective sense — 'with eyes open, not sleeping' — developed from a shortened past participle in Middle English. The figurative meaning 'aware of something important' is recorded from the 1600s and grew out of the literal sense of opening one's eyes to the world.