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waking up

waking up

95 1.0
A time when you stop sleeping and become awake
  • noun
translation icon : despertar
  • I enjoyed the peaceful moment of waking up early to the sound of birds singing.

It's a little bit like waking up out of sleep.

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Examples

  • I mean, I remember waking up in the hospital.

  • You know, the best feeling just waking up this morning.

  • It's a little bit like waking up out of sleep.

  • But it's also just like, you know, waking up at an early time.

  • I love getting sleep and waking up, you know, ready to take on the day.

  • Washington was just waking up and setting off to work.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • In the morning, he woke up feeling a heavy lump in his chest.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Every morning I'm waking up to these ridiculous views.

  • Allan was finally waking up to the truth about the woman he was married to.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • At seventy-eight, waking up in the morning was a cause for celebration.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

awakening
vswaking up
17 3.4

Waking up from sleep

describes the same act but focuses on stopping sleep as the process
arousal
vswaking up
1 6.6

A change from sleep to being awake and alert

refers to the single act of stopping sleep rather than later alertness
wakening
vswaking up
2.8

A time when a person becomes awake after sleep

emphasizes stopping sleep as the defining action rather than the moment

Antonyms

376 1.0

To start sleeping

How Sleepy

drowsiness
6 1.8
tired
1.0
waking up
95 1.0

Surface Forms

waking up singular
waking ups plural

Morphology

wake + up

The meaning 'the act of ceasing to sleep and becoming awake' is directly derivable from combining 'wake' (to bring someone out of sleep/stop sleeping) with the particle 'up' (indicating attainment of an awake state or completion). This verb+particle composition is a common, transparent pattern in English (and mirrored in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Waking up comes from the picture of someone beginning to wake and sit up in bed when an alarm or sunlight pulls them out of sleep. So, it means 'the act of stopping sleep and becoming awake'.