awaken

Verb

awaken (third-person singular simple present awakens, present participle awakening, simple past and past participle awakened)

1. (transitive) To cause to become awake.
   • Be careful how you touch her, she'll awaken / As sleep's the only freedom all that she knows / And when you walk into her eyes, you won't believe / The way she's always paying for a debt she never owes1973, New Birth, “Wildflower”, in It's Been A Long Time

   Synonyms:

   knock up, uprouse

2. (intransitive) To stop sleeping; awake.
   • Each morning he awakens with a smile on his face.
   • For this growing set, the idea that we might have a fixed, natural lifespan is pure defeatism—“deathism” even, a spell from which we must awaken to realise our full potential.2025 October 25, Stephen Cave, “Threescore and many more”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9

   Synonyms:

   awake, stir, abraid, arise, arouse, get up, rise, rouse, wake, wake up

   Antonyms:

   fall asleep

3. (figuratively, transitive) To bring into action (something previously dormant); to stimulate.
   • Awaken your entrepreneurial spirit!
   • We hope to awaken your interest in our programme.

   Synonyms:

   animate, energize, arouse, beghast, leaven, bright, brighten, cheer, enliven, enthuse

4. (intransitive) Of something previously dormant, to become active.
   • 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.1984, 20:05 from the start, in Dune (Science Fiction), →OCLC
5. To call to a sense of sin.
6. (figuratively, transitive) To cause to become aware.
7. (figuratively, intransitive) To become aware.
   • I suddenly awoke to the possibilities of the new invention.
   • [S]he pointedly remarked that they had just moved to the city a month previous, that they were dissatisfied, and would return to Hoosierdom in June. I was completely taken in, and departed without making the assessment. However, when whole flatsful began to make similar explanations under similar...1905 May 21, “Woes of Tax Assessor Many and Laughable. By a Deputy.”, in Worker’s Magazine: For the Man Who Works with Hand or Brain (The Sunday Plain Dealer), Cleveland, Oh., →OCLC, page [4], column...