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Glite Dictionary
wakening

wakening

2.8
A time when a person becomes awake after sleep
  • noun
  • /ˈweɪkənɪŋ/
translation icon : despertar
  • The gentle sound of the waves was part of her wakening process each morning.

Examples

  • Her gradual wakening from deep sleep allowed her to notice the beautiful sunrise.

  • I hadn't heard some of the things that you're referring to here and middle of the night waking has become more of an issue.

  • A wakening to the treachery.

    Blog text (6)

  • I was not awakened when I gave orders for wakening.

    A Clockwork Orange (1971)

  • Pitiful alibis, wakings, a plummet, a cleave.

  • Farmer George, foolish beast, began to purr as he always did upon half-wakening, and Nappy, now off his best behavior, squawked.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • After a long night, my wakening felt peaceful and refreshing, as the sun streamed through the window.

Synonyms

waking up
vswakening
95 1.0

A time when you stop sleeping and become awake

is the more general act of coming out of sleep, not only the stoppage
awakening
vswakening
17 3.4

Waking up from sleep

is broader, covering both sudden and gradual returns from sleep
arousal
vswakening
1 6.6

A change from sleep to being awake and alert

focuses on a single act of coming out of sleep, not the ongoing alerting

Antonyms

sleeping
353 1.0

A time when you are not awake

How Awake

waking
3 2.5
awakening
54 4.4
wakening
2.8

Surface Forms

wakening singular
wakening plural

Morphology

wakening = waken (transparent) = wake + ing

The noun is a regular -ing nominalization of the verb 'waken' (derived from 'wake'), so the meaning 'the act of waking' is directly predictable.

Etymology

Wakening comes from the simple verb wake ('stop sleeping' or 'become awake') plus the ending -ing ('the act of'). So a wakening is the process of becoming awake, like the slow wakening of a village or the gentle wakening of a forest at dawn.