Meaning & use
awakened
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“awakened” is a form of “awaken”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
Past tense and past participle of awaken: stopped sleeping or woke someone else from sleep.
Grammar: With an object it means wake someone; without one it means wake up: The noise awakened me.
Patterns
- awakened by something
- awakened someone
The thunder awakened me at dawn.
She awakened to the smell of coffee.
He gently awakened the baby.
verbtransitivefigurative
Past tense of awaken: caused a feeling, memory or interest to start or become aware.
Grammar: Takes an object: awakened her curiosity.
Patterns
- awaken something in someone
The trip awakened his love of history.
The speech awakened the town's sense of pride.
adjectivebefore a noun
Having become awake or newly aware of something.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a verb: an awakened mind.
Patterns
- newly awakened
The newly awakened child rubbed her eyes.
An awakened public demanded change.
Common combinations
- awakened by noise
- I was awakened by noise.
- awakened interest
- The book awakened my interest.
- newly awakened
- A newly awakened giant.
- awakened from sleep
- He awakened from a deep sleep.
Synonyms and how they differ
- woke
- Woke is the everyday word, while awakened is a little more literary.
- aroused
- Aroused is stronger, especially for feelings, and may mean excited.
- stirred
- Stirred suggests a gentle start of a feeling or movement.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: awakened or awoken?
awakened vs awoken
Awoken is another past participle of awake; awakened is the past form of awaken.
Practice
The loud alarm ___ everyone in the building at three o'clock.
Choose one answer.
Awakened is the past tense with an object. Awoken is a participle and needs have or be, so it fails alone.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “awakened”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.