woke

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wōk
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wəʊk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /woʊk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊk

Verb

woke

1. simple past tense and past participle of wake

Adjective

woke (not comparable)

1. (dialectal, African American Vernacular or slang) Awake: conscious and not asleep.
2. (US, Canada, slang) Alert and aware of what is going on, especially in social justice contexts.
   • 2014, Lynn Sweeting, WomanSpeak, A Journal of Writing and Art by Caribbean Women, volume 7:

     […] stay woke[,] people of color,
     let us occupy this dissent

   • 2016, Ross Douthat, "A Playboy for President," The New York Times, 14 Aug.

     "But the cultural conflict between these two post-revolutionary styles — between frat guys and feminist bluestockings, Gamergaters and the diversity police, alt-right provocateurs and woke dudebros, the mouthbreathers who poured hate on the all-female 'Ghostbusters' and the tastemakers who pretended it was good — is likely here to stay."

Synonyms

• (not asleep): See Thesaurus:awake
• (alert and aware): See Thesaurus:vigilant

Derived terms

• wokeness

See also

• politically correct (in conservative discourse, pejorative), right-on (British)

Anagrams

• Ewok

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English wicu.

Noun

woke

1. Alternative form of weke (“week”)

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English wāc, from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz. Doublet of weyk.

Alternative forms

• wac, woc, wake, wok, wooc, woake

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔːk/
• (Northern ME, Early ME) IPA^(key): /wɑːk/

Adjective

woke (inflected form woke, comparative wakker, superlative wakkest)

1. Weak or feeble; lacking, strength, might, or energy:
   1. Weak or feeble due to illness, affliction or aging.
   2. Lacking competency in combat or on the battlefield.
   3. Helpless; lacking, power, authority, or control.
   4. (rare) Fruitless, barren; agriculturally useless or unusable.
2. Lacking mental strength, force, power or endurance:
   1. Weak religiously; in danger of sinning or moral failure.
   2. (rare) Fearing, afraid; lacking bravery, heart, or courage.
   3. (rare) Unintelligent; lacking intelligence or mental willpower.
   4. (rare) Indecisive, flightly; unable to commit or take action.
   5. (rare) Morally suspect or corrupt; selfish.
3. Unimportant, valueless; of little value or import.
4. (rare) Bendable; able to be plied or flexed.

Derived terms

• woclic
• wocnesse
• woken

Descendants

• Scots: wak, wake, waik (conflated with weyk)

References

• “wōk (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-28.