wide-awake

[ wahyd-uh-weyk ]

adjective

1. fully awake; with the eyes wide open.

   Synonyms: unsleeping, astir, wakeful, open-eyed, awake

   Antonyms: restful, sleeping, asleep, somnolent, lethargic, drowsy, sleepy

2. alert, keen, or knowing:

   a wide-awake young woman.

   Synonyms: astute, quick, sharp, vigilant, watchful

noun

1. Also called wide-awake hat. a soft, low-crowned felt hat.
2. the sooty tern.

wide-awake

adjective

1. fully awake
2. keen, alert, or observant

noun

1. Also calledwide-awake hat a hat with a low crown and very wide brim

Derived Forms

• ˈwide-aˈwakeness, noun

Other Words From

• wide-a·wakeness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wide-awake¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Idioms and Phrases

Fully awake; also, very alert. For example, He lay there, wide awake, unable to sleep , or She was wide awake to all the possibilities . The wide in this idiom alludes to the eyes being wide open. [Early 1800s]

Example Sentences

Normally, I would have been napping at this time, but I was wide-awake and wondering what that boy had to say.

From Literature

All that suggests that the case will keep jurors wide-awake during the six or so weeks it is projected to take.

From Seattle Times

She does provide intricate detail about, for instance, how the station’s drinking water gets recycled from everyone’s urine, or how “the wide-awake, always-awake station vibrates with fans and filters.”

From Los Angeles Times

I’m grateful to have seen it in a theater, which it absolutely deserves; audiences planning to stream it at home should know that it demands and rewards wide-awake attention.

From Los Angeles Times

As long as I am wide-awake, I’ll only hear the stories he reads out loud.

From Literature