ENGLISH
REFERENCE

wake up

phr. v..
A1 Beginner Oxford

phr. v.. To stop sleeping and become conscious. You do this every morning when your alarm rings or the sun comes up.

phr. v.. To cease sleeping and regain consciousness. It can be used intransitively (e.g., 'I woke up') or transitively and separably (e.g., 'The noise woke me up').


SIMPLE

I wake up at 7 a.m. every day.

CONTEXTUAL

The loud thunder during the storm last night woke up the entire family.

COMPLEX

After the long flight, I was so tired that not even the hotel's blaring fire alarm was loud enough to wake me up.

Origin

From wake + up.

Particles
up
Separability
optional
Pattern
wake + up (+ object)
Usage

Often used with a time, or with a cause like a noise or an alarm clock.

Teaching tip

Contrast with 'get up' (to leave bed); a person can wake up but decide to stay in bed for a while before they get up.

Pitfall

He waked up late yesterday.He woke up late yesterday.'Wake' is an irregular verb; its simple past tense is 'woke'.

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