To wake means to stop sleeping and become conscious again. When your alarm clock rings in the morning, you wake up. You might wake naturally when sunlight streams through your window, or someone might wake you by gently shaking your shoulder.

The word also describes helping someone else stop sleeping: “Please wake me at seven o'clock,” or “Try not to wake the baby.” Sometimes people wake suddenly from a nightmare, jolting upright in bed.

Wake can mean becoming aware of something important. A student might wake to the reality that they need to study harder after getting a poor grade. A community might wake to a problem they had been ignoring.

The phrase in the wake of means following after or as a result of something, like the trail of disturbed water a ship leaves behind, called a wake. In the wake of a storm, people clean up fallen branches. In the wake of good news, everyone feels cheerful.

A wake is also a gathering where people honor someone who has died, often held before the funeral. Family and friends come together to share memories and support each other.