Awoken is the past participle of the verb “to awake,” meaning to have stopped sleeping or to have been brought out of sleep. When someone has awoken from a nap, they've transitioned from sleeping to being conscious and alert. You might say “I had just awoken when the phone rang” or “She was awoken by the sound of thunder.”

The word also describes being roused to awareness of something important. A person might have awoken to the reality of a problem they'd been ignoring, like finally realizing they need to study harder after getting a poor grade. When someone's conscience is awoken, they become aware of something they should care about or pay attention to.

Awoken sounds more formal than simpler words like “woke up” or “awake.” You'll find it more often in books than in everyday conversation. Most people would say “I woke up at seven” rather than “I had awoken at seven.” The word carries a slightly dramatic quality, which is why writers might use it to describe particularly significant moments: when a character has awoken to find everything changed, or when someone has awoken to an important truth about themselves or the world around them.