Awake Meaning
/əˈweɪk/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot asleep; conscious.
adjAlert, aware.
Sentence Examples
The household was already awake at 6 in the morning.
Last night my house was robbed while I was still awake.
Suddenly he found himself awake and fully alert.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the loud noise, she was fully ____ and could not fall back asleep.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I was still wide ____ at midnight because I drank too much coffee.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ud-s-? Proto-Indo-European *h₂u-s-? Proto-Germanic *uz- Proto-West Germanic *uʀ- Old English ar- Old English ā- Proto-Indo-European *weǵ-der. Proto-Germanic *wakaną Proto-West Germanic *wakan Old English wacan Old English āwacan Middle English awaken Middle English awake English awake From Middle English awake, a shortened form of awaken (“awakened, awake”), past participle of Middle English awaken (“to awaken”). See verb below. Compare Saterland Frisian woak (“awake”), German Low German waak (“awake”), German wach (“awake”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"By quarter to six all this had me so awake and agitated that even the Balinese wind chimes that I hung up in the garden to relax me began to sound like Big Ben."
— 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 86:
"The Baker was a two-handed hitter, and seemed perfectly awake to the business before him."
— 1845, The Sportsman's Magazine of Life in London and the Country, page 355:
"‘Sammy,’ whispered Mr. Weller, looking cautiously round; ‘[…] Me and a cab’net-maker has dewised a plan for gettin’ him out. A pianner, Samivel—a pianner!’ […]
‘And wot ‘ud be the good o’ that?’ said Sam.
‘Let him send to my friend, the cabinet-maker, to fetch it back, Sammy,’ replied Mr. Weller. ‘Are you avake, now?’
‘No,’ rejoined Sam.
‘There ain’t no vurks in it,’ whispered his father. ‘It ‘ull hold him easy, vith his hat and shoes on, and breathe through the legs, vich his holler. […]"
— 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
"And so we see in our own world a revolution of rising expectations. The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake through this social revolution."
— 1965 June, Martin Luther King, Jr., Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution:
"Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night,
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultán's Turret in a Noose of light."
— 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 1:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the loud noise, she was fully ____ and could not fall back asleep.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I was still wide ____ at midnight because I drank too much coffee.