awaken
awaken - English
Pronunciation
- IPA: /əˈweɪkən/
Verb
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.
- (theology) To call to a sense of sin.
- (rare) past participle of awake
- (transitive, figurative) To cause to become aware.
- (intransitive, figurative) To become aware.
- I suddenly awoke to the possibilities of the new invention.
Usage notes
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
Antonyms
- (stop sleeping): fall asleep
Translations
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