Etymology
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From Middle English awakenen or awaknen, from Old English awæcnan or awæcnian, from a- plus wæcnan or wæcnian.
Pronunciation
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awaken (third-person singular simple present awakens, present participle awakening, simple past and past participle awakened) (but see usage notes)
- (transitive) To cause to become awake.
She awakened him by ringing the bell.
- (intransitive) To stop sleeping; awake.
Each morning he awakens with a smile on his face.
- (transitive, figurative) To bring into action (something previously dormant); to stimulate.
Awaken your entrepreneurial spirit!
We hope to awaken your interest in our programme.
1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 273:On the other hand, the self-cleaning smokebox belongs to the latter-day period of the L.M.S.R., when the visiting U.S.A. 2-8-0s of the war had awakened an interest in such things.
1984, 20:05 from the start, in Dune[1] (Science Fiction), →OCLC:I'll miss the sea. But a person needs new experiences. They draw something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.
- (theology) To call to a sense of sin.
- (rare) past participle of awake
1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:[This ant] I ſuffered to lye above an hour in the Spirit; and after I had taken it out, and put its body and legs into a natural poſture, remained moveleſs about an hour; but then , upon a ſudden, as if it had been awaken out of a drunken ſleep, it ſuddenly reviv'd and ran away...
- (transitive, figurative) To cause to become aware.
- (intransitive, figurative) To become aware.
I suddenly awoke to the possibilities of the new invention.
Usage notes
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This verb, for many speakers, has been essentially conflated with the verb awake, and has adopted parts of awake’s conjugation. awaken remains the bare form (and also in awakens and awakening), but its simple past and past participle are replaced by those of awake: awoke and awoken, respectively.
For many others, awaken has simply supplanted awake, without adopting conjugational elements from awake.
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Translations
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transitive: to cause to become awake
- Apache:
- Western Apache: náô’da
- Arabic: أَيْقَظَ (ʔayqaẓa)
- Moroccan Arabic: فيّق (fijjaq)
- Armenian: զարթնեցնել (hy) (zartʿnecʿnel), արթնացնել (artʿnacʿnel)
- Belarusian: будзі́ць impf (budzícʹ), разбу́джваць impf (razbúdžvacʹ), разбудзі́ць pf (razbudzícʹ), абудзі́ць pf (abudzícʹ)
- Bulgarian: пробу́ждам (bg) impf (probúždam), пробу́дя pf (probúdja), бу́дя (bg) impf (búdja)
- Catalan: despertar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 喚醒/唤醒 (zh) (huànxǐng), 叫醒 (zh) (jiàoxǐng)
- Czech: budit (cs) pf, vzbudit (cs) pf, probudit (cs) pf
- Danish: vække (da)
- Dutch: wekken (nl), wakker maken
- Esperanto: veki
- Estonian: äratama
- Finnish: herättää (fi)
- French: réveiller (fr)
- Georgian: გაღვიძება (gaɣviʒeba)
- German: aufwecken (de), wecken (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient: ἐγείρω (egeírō)
- Haitian Creole: reveye
- Hungarian: ébreszt (hu), felébreszt (hu)
- Interlingua: eveliar
- Italian: svegliare (it)
- Japanese: 起こす (ja) (おこす, okosu)
- Korean: 깨우다 (ko) (kkae'uda)
- Latin: expergō, excito
- Macedonian: буди impf (budi), разбуди pf (razbudi)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: vekke (no)
- Persian: بلند کردن (fa) (boland kardan), (colloquial) بلن کردن (bolan kardan), بیدار کردن (fa) (bidâr kardan)
- Portuguese: acordar (pt), despertar (pt)
- Quechua: hatariy
- Romanian: scula (ro), deștepta (ro), trezi (ro)
- Russian: буди́ть (ru) impf (budítʹ), разбуди́ть (ru) pf (razbudítʹ), пробужда́ть (ru) impf (probuždátʹ), пробуди́ть (ru) pf (probudítʹ)
- Sanskrit: बोधयति (bodhayati), जागर्ति (sa) (jāgarti)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: пробуђи́вати impf, пробу́дити pf
- Roman: probuđívati (sh) impf, probúditi (sh) pf
- Slovak: budiť impf, vzbudiť pf, prebudiť pf
- Slovene: prebujati impf, prebuditi pf
- Spanish: despertar (es)
- Swedish: väcka (sv)
- Turkish: uyandırmak (tr)
- Ukrainian: буди́ти (uk) impf (budýty), пробу́джувати impf (probúdžuvaty), розбу́джувати impf (rozbúdžuvaty), пробуди́ти pf (probudýty), розбуди́ти pf (rozbudýty)
- Walloon: dispierter (wa), rewoeyî (wa)
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intransitive: to stop sleeping
- Arabic: اِسْتَيْقَظَ (ar) (istayqaẓa), أَفَاقَ (ʔafāqa)
- Moroccan Arabic: فاق (fāq)
- Armenian: զարթնել (hy) (zartʿnel), արթնանալ (hy) (artʿnanal)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 醒 (zh) (xǐng), 醒來/醒来 (zh) (xǐnglái)
- Danish: vågne (da)
- Dutch: zich opwekken, wakker worden (nl)
- Esperanto: vekiĝi
- Estonian: ärkama
- Finnish: herätä (fi)
- French: se réveiller (fr)
- Georgian: გაღვიძება (gaɣviʒeba), გამოღვიძება (gamoɣviʒeba)
- German: aufwachen (de), erwachen (de), wach werden
- Greek:
- Ancient: ἐγείρομαι (egeíromai)
- Hungarian: ébred (hu), felébred (hu)
- Ingrian: havaita
- Italian: svegliarsi (it)
- Japanese: 起きる (ja) (おきる, okiru), 目覚める (ja) (めざめる, mezameru), 目を覚ます (めをさます, me o samasu)
- Latin: expergiscor, excitor, exsuscito
- Maltese: qam
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: våkne (no)
- Persian: بیدار شدن (fa) (bidâr šodan)
- Portuguese: acordar (pt), despertar (pt)
- Russian: просыпа́ться (ru) impf (prosypátʹsja), просну́ться (ru) pf (prosnútʹsja), пробужда́ться (ru) impf (probuždátʹsja), пробуди́ться (ru) pf (probudítʹsja)
- Sanskrit: बुध्यते (sa) (budhyate)
- Scottish Gaelic: dùisg
- Spanish: despertarse (es)
- Swedish: vakna (sv), vakna upp (sv)
- Turkish: uyanmak (tr)
- Walloon: si dispierter (wa), si rewoeyî (wa)
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transitive: to cause to become conscious