Talk:awake

Is "awake" a verb? I think the verb is "awaken" and the verbal sense should be moved there. Hippietrail 02:13, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)


 * Yes, "awake" is a verb, and "awaken" is a synonym. There's a movement in J.S. Bach's Canata #140, Wachet auf, which is usually translated into English as "Sleepers, awake!" -- Ortonmc 04:56, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

adj (postpositive)
adj (postpositive) Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:41, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

3. aware of something awake to all the possibilities
2. alert and vigilant about what is going on all around you "The color had come back to his face, and his eyes were clear, and fully awake and aware." (J. R. R. Tolkien The Fellowship of the Ring 1954) 3. aware of something: fully aware of something awake to all the possibilities --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:31, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Usage note
In practice awake and awaken are preferred in figurative meanings. When used in literal meanings, awake(n) normally  intransitively or in the passive --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:03, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

Attributive use
How do you feel about using this as an adjective before a noun?

Example: "On New Year's Eve the the number of awake people at midnight is greater than on any other night."

Example: "Be careful — that didn't sound like a snore to me, it sounded more like a growl made by an awake grizzly bear, such as might very well be prowling about this area!"

I dislike the phrasing in each of those examples. (In the former I'd change the word order to "people awake at midnight"; in the latter I might go with "a wide-awake grizzly bear", or just imply it from "a grizzly bear prowling about this area!".)

But currently there's nothing in the entry about this matter.

I'm also unsure where such information would best fit. Would a usage note be the best place?

—DIV (1.145.32.254 07:12, 8 March 2023 (UTC))
 * It's not something I've heard or read, so I'd like to see some attestation (See WT:ATTEST.). If we were a prescriptive dictionary, I would say it is non-standard. DCDuring (talk) 15:54, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * I get lots of hits for "awake people", "awake patient", "awake child", etc. You can add a usage not if this is considered "bad" by reputable style guides (be sure to cite them). Ioaxxere (talk) 02:11, 12 March 2023 (UTC)