awaken
To wake up from sleep or make someone wake up.
To awaken means to wake up from sleep, or to cause someone or something to wake up. When your alarm clock rings in the morning, it awakens you from your dreams. A parent might gently awaken a child by opening the curtains and letting sunlight fill the room.
The word also describes bringing something to life or awareness that was dormant or hidden. A great teacher can awaken curiosity in students who thought they hated a subject. Reading about space exploration might awaken an interest in astronomy you didn't know you had. When someone says a trip to a museum awakened their love of art, they mean it sparked something inside them that had been sleeping.
Awaken carries a sense of something stirring to life, whether it's a person opening their eyes or an idea beginning to grow. It suggests movement from stillness to activity, from unawareness to awareness. The related word awakening describes this process: a rude awakening means discovering an unpleasant truth you'd been ignoring, while a spiritual awakening means developing a deeper understanding of life's meaning.