Definition

1. Verb (intransitive):
   • To stop sleeping and become conscious. This refers to the natural or spontaneous action of ceasing to sleep.
2. Verb (transitive):
   • To cause someone or something to stop sleeping; to make someone become conscious. This refers to the action of rousing another from sleep.

Examples

• Intransitive Verb:
  • I usually wake up at seven o'clock.
  • She woke up feeling refreshed.
• Transitive Verb:
  • The loud noise woke the baby up.
  • Could you wake me up at 6 AM?

Usage

• Grammatical Note: "Wake up" is a phrasal verb. It can be used with or without an object.
  • Without an object (intransitive): "I wake up early."
  • With an object (transitive): "The alarm wakes me up." The object can be placed between "wake" and "up" (e.g., wake someone up) or after "up" (e.g., wake up someone), though the separated form is more common.
• Formality: "Wake up" is common in everyday, neutral speech. More formal synonyms include "awaken" or "rouse."

Advanced Usage

• Figurative Use: "Wake up" can be used metaphorically to mean to become aware of or alert to a situation, fact, or reality.
  • The scandal finally made the public wake up to the corruption in the government.
  • You need to wake up and see what's really happening.

Variants and Related Words

• Wake (verb): Can be used similarly to "wake up," especially in transitive constructions (e.g., ). It is less common as an intransitive verb in modern everyday American English ("I wake at seven" sounds more formal or literary than "I wake up at seven").
• Awake (adjective): Not sleeping.
• Awaken (verb): A more formal or literary synonym, often used figuratively.
• Waken (verb): Similar to "awaken," often used in transitive contexts.

Synonyms

• Intransitive (stop sleeping): awaken, get up, rouse (oneself), come to.
• Transitive (cause to stop sleeping): awaken, rouse, waken, arouse.

Phrasal Verbs

• Wake up to something: To become aware of or realize something important.
  • Investors need to wake up to the risks involved.

Related Idioms

• Wake up and smell the coffee: An informal idiom meaning to become aware of the reality of a situation, especially an unpleasant one that you have been ignoring.
  • You need to wake up and smell the coffee; this project is failing.

Verb

1. stop sleeping
   • She woke up to the sound of the alarm clock
2. cause to become awake or conscious
   • He was roused by the drunken men in the street
   • Please wake me at 6 AM.