wakeful

[ weyk-fuhl ]

adjective

1. unable to sleep; not sleeping; indisposed to sleep:

   Excitement made the children wakeful.

   Synonyms: restless, insomniac, awake, sleepless

   Antonyms: sleeping, asleep

2. characterized by absence of sleep:

   a wakeful night.

   Antonyms: sleepful

3. watchful; alert; vigilant:

   a wakeful foe.

   Synonyms: observant, wary

wakeful

/ ˈweɪkfʊl /

adjective

1. unable or unwilling to sleep
2. sleepless
3. alert

Derived Forms

• ˈwakefully, adverb
• ˈwakefulness, noun

Other Words From

• wakeful·ly adverb
• wakeful·ness noun
• un·wakeful adjective
• un·wakeful·ly adverb
• un·wakeful·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wakeful¹

First recorded in 1540–50; wake ¹ + -ful

Example Sentences

Still, midnight drives with a wakeful infant aren’t quite the same test he faces in his latest TV role.

From Los Angeles Times

More wakeful than he’d been, he realized that winter had become less cold, and he bestirred himself to be up and around.

From Literature

Identifying processes in the brain that underlie sleep-deprived boosting of mood could lead to therapies that are less burdensome than enduring a wakeful night.

From Scientific American

There was something else, something inherently evil had drifted into my wakeful consciousness, a bad dream of some kind—a warning, perhaps.

From Literature

If I was this fatigued from one night’s loss of sleep, how did Charlie and the other soldiers feel, wakeful night after night after night?

From Literature