Pronunciations (5)
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/ˈweɪ̯k/
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[ˈweɪ̯k]
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/ˈweːk/
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/ˈwæɪ̯k/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
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[ˈwæ̝ɪ̯k]
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
Verb
(often followed by up) To stop sleeping.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I woke up at four o'clock this morning.
How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to the time, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness.
(often followed by up) To make somebody stop sleeping; to rouse from sleep.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The neighbour's car alarm woke me from a strange dream.
And the Angell that talked with me, came againe and waked me, […]
To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite.
Usage- Figurative
- Transitive
- Examples
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Not for my life, leſt fierce remembrance wake My ſudden rage to tear thee joint by joint.
Even Richard's crusade woke little interest in his island realm.
To be excited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active.
Usage- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Examples
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and gentle Aires due at thir hour To fan the Earth now wak'd,
Then wake, my soul, to high desires, And earlier light thine altar fires: […]
To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Dougal said that being alone with the dead on that floor of the tower (for naebody cared to wake Sir Robert Redgauntlet like another corpse) he had never daured^([sic]) to answer the call, but that now his conscience checked him for neglecting his duty; […]
To be or remain awake; not to sleep.
- Examples
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The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the care for her taketh away sleepe;
And oft though wiſdom wake, ſuspicion ſleeps At wiſdoms Gate,
More examples (1)
, Book II, Chapter I I cannot think any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it.
To be alert; to keep watch
Usage- Obsolete
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Command unto the guards that they diligently wake.
To sit up late for festive purposes; to hold a night revel.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels.
Noun
A period after a person's death before or after the body is buried, cremated, etc.; in some cultures accompanied by a party or collectively sorting through the deceased's personal effects.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Where any person has died whilst being, or suspected of being, a case or carrier or contact of an infectious disease, the Director may by order prohibit the conduct of a wake over the body of that person or impose such conditions as he thinks fit on the conduct of such wake […]
The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or festive purposes; a vigil.
- Examples
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The warlike wakes continued all the night, And funeral games played at new returning light.
The wood nymphs, deckt with daises trim, Their merry wakes and pastimes keep.
A yearly parish festival formerly held in commemoration of the dedication of a church. Originally, prayers were said on the evening preceding, and hymns were sung during the night, in the church; subsequently, these vigils were discontinued, and the day itself, often with succeeding days, was occupied in rural pastimes and exercises, attended by eating and drinking.
Usage- Church-of-England
- Historical
- Examples
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More examples (1)
1523–1525, Jean Froissart, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles Great solemnities were made in all churches, and great fairs and wakes throughout all England.
And every village smokes at wakes with lusty cheer.
The act of waking, or state of being awake.
Usage- Obsolete
- often
- Poetic
- Examples
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Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep.
Singing her flatteries to my morning wake.
More examples (1)
After a few weeks of age, longer periods of sleep and wake are seen […]
A group of vultures or buzzards.
Usage- collective
- Examples
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New at the Houston Zoo: A scary, misunderstood wake of vultures
More examples (2)
Growing up out in the country past University Lake, we’d frequently see a wake of vultures along the side of the road, in a pasture and sometimes even in the woods, quietly picking away at something.
Ricky Lanusse (23 July 2024), “How The Collapse of India’s Vultures Led to Half a Million Human Deaths”, in Medium.com, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2026: “A wake of vultures — possibly a mix of Himalayan Griffons and Indian Vultures — feed on a buffalo in Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh.”
Noun
The path left behind a ship on the surface of the water.
The disturbance which follows an object, person or animal moving through water.
The turbulent air left behind a flying aircraft.
The area behind a moving person or object.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
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The player left the rest of the field trailing in her wake.
This effect followed immediately in the wake of his earliest exertions.
More examples (3)
Several humbler persons […] formed quite a procession in the dusty wake of his chariot wheels.
It was all of a piece. If you believed in capitalism, you had to attack science, because science had revealed the hazards that capitalism had brought in its wake.
Alex Song launched a long ball forward from the back and the winger took it down nicely on his chest. He cut across the penalty area from the right and after one of the three defenders in his wake failed to make a meaningful clearance, the Oxlade-Chamberlain was able to dispatch a low left-footed finish into the far corner.
The perturbation behind a body moving through a fluid.
Noun
the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic event)
- Examples
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the aftermath of war
in the wake of the accident no one knew how many had been injured
the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the motorboat's wake capsized the canoe
a vigil held over a corpse the night before burial
- Synonyms
- Examples
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there's no weeping at an Irish wake
Verb
be awake, be alert, be there
- Antonyms
stop sleeping
- Broader terms
- Examples
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She woke up to the sound of the alarm clock
arouse or excite feelings and passions
- Examples
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The ostentatious way of living of the rich ignites the hatred of the poor
The refugees' fate stirred up compassion around the world
More examples (1)
Wake old feelings of hatred
to alert someone to something
- Examples
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His words woke us to terrible facts of the situation
cause to become awake or conscious
- Examples
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He was roused by the drunken men in the street
Please wake me at 6 AM.