1
a
: to be or remain awake
b
archaic
: to remain awake on watch especially over a corpse
c
obsolete
: to stay up late in revelry
1
: to stand watch over (someone or something)
especially
: to hold a wake over
waker
noun
1
: the state of being awake
2
a(1)
: an annual English parish festival formerly held in commemoration of the church's patron saint
(2)
b
: the festivities originally connected with the wake of an English parish church
—usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction
c
British
: an annual holiday or vacation
—usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction
3
: a watch held over the body of a dead person prior to burial and sometimes accompanied by festivity
1
: the track left by a moving body (such as a ship) in a fluid (such as water)
broadly
: a track or path left
Phrases
in the wake of
1
: close behind and in the same path of travel
missionaries arrived in the wake of conquistadors and soldiers—
Sabine MacCormack
Sabine MacCormack2
: as a result of : as a consequence of
power vacuums left in the wake of the second world war—A. M. Schlesinger born 1917
A. M. Schlesinger born 1917Synonyms
Examples of wake in a Sentence
Verb
She can never remember her dreams upon waking.
my banging around in the kitchen woke my wife
Recent Examples on the WebKate Linderman, Kansas City Star, 22 May 2024
Opinion Opinion: College students were ‘woke’ in the 60s and annoying to their elders.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for wake 
Verb
An alarm woke her up, reminding her to pick up her child from day care.
—Kate Linderman, Kansas City Star, 22 May 2024
Opinion Opinion: College students were ‘woke’ in the 60s and annoying to their elders.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for wake
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wake.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near wake
Cite this Entry
“Wake.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wake. Accessed 29 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
wake
2 of 3 noun
: a time before a dead person is buried when people gather to remember him or her and often to view the body
wake
3 of 3 noun1
: a track or path left by a moving body (as a ship) in the water
Etymology
Verb
from Old English wacan "to awake" and Old English wacian "to be awake"
Noun
of Germanic origin
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share