awakening

Language: en

🇺🇸 /əˈweɪkənɪŋ/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The act or process of waking from sleep; the moment of becoming conscious.; A realization or sudden awareness of something previously unnoticed or unappreciated; an enlightenment.; A revival or renewal of interest, activity, or feeling in a particular area.
  2. adjective
    In the process of waking or becoming aware; emerging from sleep or ignorance.
  3. verb
    Present participle of 'awaken'; the act of rousing from sleep or stimulating awareness.

🔗 Details

Word forms

3rd sing.: awakens Past: awakened Past part.: awakened Pres part.: awakening

Collocations

spiritual awakeningawaken toawaken fromawaken someone torude awakening

Derivatives

awakeningawakeawakenedunawakened

Synonyms

arouserousestirstimulatekindleignite

Antonyms

lullsuppressdullnumb

Commonly confused

awake
EN: 'Awake' can be an adjective ('I am awake') or a verb; 'awaken' is strictly a verb and is more formal.
waken
EN: 'Waken' is a less common variant meaning the same thing, often used in literary or dialectal contexts.

Spelling tips

EN: Do not drop the 'e' before adding '-ing': it is 'awakening', not 'awaking'. Also distinguish 'awaken' (verb only) from 'awake' (adjective or verb).

💬 Examples

  1. Her awakening was gradual, as sunlight slowly filled the room.

  2. Reading that book was a spiritual awakening that changed his entire worldview.

  3. The city experienced a cultural awakening in the 1920s.

  4. The awakening child rubbed her eyes and looked around the dark room.

  5. The loud noise was awakening the entire neighborhood.