wake-up

[ weyk-uhp ]

noun

an act or instance of waking up.
an act or instance of being awakened: I asked the hotel desk for a wake-up at 6.

a time of awaking or being awakened: I'll need a 5 o'clock wake-up to make the early plane.
flicker².

adjective

serving to wake one from sleep: Tell the front desk you want a wake-up call.
serving to arouse or alert: a wake-up call on the problems of pollution.

Origin of wake-up

First recorded in 1835–45; noun, adj. use of verb phrase wake up

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wake-up in a sentence

It is a wakeup call for how poorly misunderstand our movement is.
You Don’t Hate Feminism. You Just Don’t Understand It. | Emily Shire | July 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
In one jail where people were detained illegally the wakeup call was made with teargas bombs.
Venezuela’s Security Forces: A Killer Elite Beyond the Law | Marcel Ventura | April 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Michelle Goldberg delivers a rattling wakeup call in the latest installment of our “Op-Vid: Campaign 2012” video series.
Michelle Goldberg’s Op-Vid Campaign 2012 on Liberal Despair (VIDEO) | The Daily Beast Video | January 17, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
“That was a wakeup call for a depressed Republican base that maybe we can win,” Fleischer says.
Who Built the GOP Comeback? | Howard Kurtz | October 26, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
John Avlon says her case is a wakeup call for fellow travelers.
The Spy Who Loved Chavez | John Avlon | July 2, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for wake-up

wake-up

noun

Australian informal an alert or intelligent person
be a wake-up to Australian informal to be fully alert to (a person, thing, action, etc)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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