Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An act or instance of waking up.
  • noun An act or instance of being awakened.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Wake-up strokes: An estimated 58,000 Americans suffer a stroke in their sleep each year, called wake-up strokes, according to a study in Neurology.

    Feeling Groggy? Your Brain May Be Half Asleep Ann Lukits 2011

  • If the Birla episode was a wake-up call for other Indian business families, the Ambani family feud got them to smell the coffee.

    Indian Family Businesses Shishir Prasad 2010

  • "It was a wake-up call for me and my three teenage boys who now have a family history of prostate cancer."

    Mustaches for Cash Shelly Banjo 2010

  • Its tone can be brutal at times but it provides a fresh and apparently necessary wake-up call to advanced societies about how to stop the "womb strike" menacing graying nations from Japan to Germany.

    In Praise of the Mediocre Mother Emma-Kate Symons 2010

  • Shatner's words were followed by Monday morning's wake-up music, "Theme from Star Trek."

    Discovery leaves space station for the last time 2011

  • When the heartburn went down a week ago, I said that I thought that this was much ado about nothing but that it should be a (fixable) wake-up call for Facebook that they need to better establish a better bond with their community.

    Democracy (Sort of) Comes to Facebook 2009

  • "This is a wake-up call for all of us in the U.S. that this is a big issue which the U.S. needs to focus on," said Rep. Ben Quayle R., Ariz., who was also briefed by ICE officials.

    Mexico Killers Knew Men Were From U.S. Jos 2011

  • If the Birla episode was a wake-up call for other Indian business families, the Ambani family feud got them to smell the coffee.

    Indian Family Businesses Shishir Prasad 2010

  • Israeli Ambassador Meron Reuben said after the vote was a "wake-up call" about how Human Rights Council members are chosen.

    U.N. suspends Libya from rights council 2011

  • Clinton, en route to Asia for a key regional summit, stressed following a meeting with her Japanese counterpart in Hawaii that recent Chinese restrictions on sales of the important commercial inputs must serve as a "wake-up call" for the U.S. and its allies to diversify their sourcing.

    World Watch 2010

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