wake

wake — verb

1. to stop sleeping, or to cause another person or living thing to stop sleeping

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

to stop sleeping, or to cause another person or living thing to stop sleeping

Example

Kofi usually wakes at six in the morning to go jogging.

intransitive: wake + time phrase for habitual action

The smell of burning toast woke the children before their alarm clock.

transitive: event/sound + wakes + person

Common collocations
  • wake early
  • wake late
  • wake with a start
  • wake from a dream
  • wake to the sound of
Synonyms
  • awake

    more formal or literary; common as adjective (e.g. 'I am awake') but less used as a verb in everyday speech

  • stir

    suggests beginning to move slightly, not necessarily fully awake

  • rouse

    more forceful; often means to cause someone to wake actively rather than waking naturally

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

wake (up) + (somebody)

wake + (somebody/something)

Common Mistakes

I waked up late this morning.
I woke up late this morning.
'wake' is an irregular verb; the past tense is 'woke', not 'waked'.
She wakes me up every morning with a cold voice.
She wakes me up every morning by calling my name.
'wake + by + [method]' is the natural pattern, not 'with + [voice]'.

2. to become conscious of a situation, problem, or need; or to cause someone to fee

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to become conscious of a situation, problem, or need; or to cause someone to feel an emotion or memory strongly again

Example

The protest finally woke the government to the public's anger.

transitive: [event] + wakes + [person/institution] + to + [issue]

That old song always wakes memories of summers spent by the sea.

transitive: [stimulus] + wakes + [emotion/memory]

Common collocations
  • wake to the reality
  • wake to the dangers
  • wake public awareness
  • wake memories
  • wake passions
Synonyms
  • awaken

    more literary or formal; often used in figurative contexts ('awaken the public to the dangers')

  • alert

    implies giving information or warning; more direct and urgent

  • stir up

    suggests provoking feelings or reactions; slightly informal

Antonyms
  • ignore

    to deliberately not pay attention to something

  • suppress

    to prevent an emotion or memory from being felt

Grammar Patterns

wake + to + something

wake + somebody + to + something

wake + up + to + something

Usage Note

Often used with 'to' to introduce what is being noticed. The intransitive form ('wake to') is more common in abstract or reflective contexts, while the transitive form ('wake somebody to') implies a deliberate act of making someone aware.

Common Mistakes

I waked to the problem yesterday.
I woke up to the problem yesterday.
In the figurative sense of becoming aware, 'wake up to' is preferred over bare 'wake to'.
Phrasal verbs

wake up

phrasal verb

to stop sleeping; to cause someone to stop sleeping

Élise woke up at seven to the smell of fresh coffee brewing in the kitchen.

Could you wake me up at six tomorrow morning before your shift starts?

wake up to

phrasal verb

to finally become aware of a problem, danger, or situation that has existed for some time

People are slowly waking up to the fact that plastic waste damages the ocean.

The city council finally woke up to the need for more bike lanes after the accident.

Idioms

wake up and smell the coffee

idiom

A way to tell someone to recognize the true, often unpleasant, reality of a situation.

Maya told her brother to wake up and smell the coffee about his failing business.

You need to wake up and smell the coffee; your grades won't improve without studying.

wake — noun

Word family

  • awake
    adjectiveB1
  • awake
    verbB2
  • awaken
    verbC1
  • waken
    verbC1
  • wakeful
    adjectiveC1
  • wakefulness
    nounC2
  • waking
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five words describe the transition from sleep to consciousness, but they differ in register and usage. 'Wake' and 'wake up' are the most common choices in everyday English: 'I woke early' and 'I woke up early' are both natural, with 'wake up' being slightly more informal. 'Awake' works as a verb ('I awoke at dawn') but is more formal and less frequent in speech; its adjective form ('I am awake') is far more common. 'Awaken' and 'waken' are literary or formal — you are more likely to read them in novels ('He was awakened by a knock at the door') than to hear them in conversation. In figurative use ('awaken to the truth'), 'awaken' is more common than 'wake' or 'wake up'. For everyday use, stick with 'wake' or 'wake up'; reserve 'awake' for writing, and leave 'awaken' and 'waken' for formal or poetic contexts.

wake ↗wake up ↗awake ↗awaken ↗waken

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicOld EnglishEnglish

The English verb 'wake' comes from Old English 'wacan' (to become awake) and 'wacian' (to be awake, keep watch). These trace back to Proto-Germanic '*wakaną' and ultimately to the Proto-Indo-European root '*weg-', meaning 'to be strong or lively' — the same root that gave us 'vigor' and 'vigil'. Interestingly, the noun sense of a ship's trail (sense 1) has a different origin: it came from Old Norse 'vǫk' (vöku), meaning 'a hole or opening in ice', which was later extended to the track left by a ship in water, and then to the figurative idea of a trail of consequences (sense 3). So the word 'wake' in modern English is actually two separate words that happened to converge in spelling.