adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Awake; not sleeping.
2. 2
   Sleepless.
3. 3
   Vigilant and alert; watchful.

   "“Be wakeful, Beowulf, against our foe.”"

Adjective

1. 1
   carefully observant or attentive; on the lookout for possible danger wordnet
2. 2
   marked by full consciousness or alertness wordnet
3. 3
   (of sleep) easily disturbed wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

awakewokeagilealertaliveargus eyed

Example

More examples

"Daphnis and Chloe retired to rest, and, wakeful like the owls, kissed and embraced one another all night long."

Etymology

From wake + -ful.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.