to wake up and smell the coffee
3
7.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
despertar y enfrentar la realidad
- It's time for you to wake up and smell the coffee; the project is failing and we need a new plan.
- need to wake up and smell the coffee
- time to wake up and smell the coffee
I don't know where that's really true, but but I can see potential downsides and kids where you think, come on, wake up and smell the coffee or whatever.
- I don't know where that's really true, but but I can see potential downsides and kids where you think, come on, wake up and smell the coffee or whatever.
- I mean, boy, it's if that isn't are those aren't signs from God, you know, wake up and smell the coffee here.
Examples
-
Wake up and smell the coffee, and stay out of this race.
Blog text (2) -
You better wake up and smell the coffee!
-
Girl, when you going to wake up and smell the coffee?
-
When are you gonna wake up and smell the coffee?
-
Our nation better wake up and smell the coffee.
Blog text (14) -
America, wake up and smell the coffee!
Blog text (25) -
The GOP needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
Blog text (25) -
There comes a time when man's gotta wake up and smell the coffee.
-
You need to wake up and smell the coffee and open your closed and blindered mind to reality.
Blog text (12) -
Miguel needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
Blog text (11)
Synonyms
30
4.1
Accept the truth about a difficult situation
16
3.7
Accept real facts even when they are painful
16
7.1
To learn the true facts after not knowing them
Notice the true situation after ignoring or misunderstanding it
To accept a painful truth that changes what you believed
Antonyms
How Aware
16
3.7
- Informal
3
7.3
- Informal
46
4.4
- Informal
55
5.0
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
wake + up + and + smell + the + coffee
The component 'wake up' transparently signals becoming alert, but 'smell the coffee' is a conventionalized metaphor whose figurative sense of 'face the facts' is not directly predictable from knowing 'smell' and 'coffee'. Because part of the phrase cues awareness while the crucial metaphorical punchline is idiomatic and requires prior exposure, the expression is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Wake up and smell the coffee comes from the image of someone finally waking up and noticing the strong smell of coffee, which makes them alert and ready to face the day. That's why the phrase tells a person to stop ignoring a problem and 'face the facts'.