Awake vs Wake
Among the many English words that are very similar in spelling though having different uses, awake and wake hold a high place as people use these words regularly as synonyms, not understanding the difference between the two words. If you refer to the dictionary to find the difference between awake and wake, you will notice that both seem to have a similar meaning. But actually speaking, there is some difference between awake and wake in their usage. The purpose of this article is to explain the difference between awake and wake in a clear manner, with examples, so that you will learn to use them appropriately.
What does Awake mean?
Though the word awake can be used to mean ‘stop sleeping,’ it can also be used as a verb with the meaning ‘to keep attentive’ or ‘to keep active’ or ‘to be charged up’ as in the sentences given below:
Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.
The speech has awakened him.
In the first sentence, the word awake is used in the sense of ‘to keep active’ and the meaning of the sentence would be ‘arise, keep yourself active and stop not till the goal is reached’. In the same way, the meaning of the second sentence would be ‘the speech has charged him up’.
It should be noted that though both awake and wake do mean the same as dictionaries say, awake is mostly used as an adjective in everyday English. For example,
When she came home, I was still awake.
Nevertheless, you should remember that you can come across the word awake as a verb to mean ‘stop sleeping’ just as wake, in literature. For example,
I awoke to the sound of the church bell.
What does Wake mean?
On the other hand, the word wake is used as a verb with the meaning ‘get out of sleep’ or ‘stop sleeping’ as in the sentences given below:
I usually wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning.
It is good to wake up early.
In both the sentences, the word wake is used in the sense of ‘get out of sleep’ and hence, the meaning of the first sentence would be ‘I usually get out of sleep at 6 o’clock in the morning’, and the meaning of the second sentence would be ‘it is good to get out of sleep early’.
It is interesting to note that the word wake is used with the preposition ‘in’ in the expression ‘in the wake of’ as in the sentence:
Many disciplinary procedures are implemented in the wake of elections.
In the above sentence, you can see that the expression ‘in the wake of’ is used in the sense of ‘as a consequence of’.
What is the difference between Awake and Wake?
• Primarily both awake and wake mean ‘to stop sleeping.’
• However, in everyday English, awake is used as an adjective to mean ‘not sleeping’ while wake is used as a verb with the meaning ‘get out of sleep’ or ‘stop sleeping.’
• In literature, one can come across awake as a verb to mean ‘not sleeping.’
• Awake is also used as a verb with the meaning ‘to keep attentive’ or ‘to keep active’ or ‘to be charged up.’
• Wake is used with the preposition ‘in’ in the expression ‘in the wake of’ which means ‘as a consequence of.’
These are the various differences between the two words awake and wake as used in the English language.
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