wakeful
/ˈweɪkfl/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈweɪkfl/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈwāk-fəl How to pronounce wakeful (audio)/ (ame, mw)
wakeful — adjective
- wakefulpositive
- more wakefulcomparative
- most wakefulsuperlative
1. describes a person who cannot get to sleep, especially at night when rest is nee
describes a person who cannot get to sleep, especially at night when rest is needed; the word can also refer to a stretch of time — such as a night or a journey — that is spent without any sleep.
Takeshi lay wakeful in bed for hours, listening to the rain beat against the window.
lay + wakeful: predicative pattern with duration
Folake spent a wakeful night before her exam, too nervous to sleep more than an hour.
a wakeful + night: describing a period without sleep
The baby's fever meant a wakeful night, and Eleni checked on her every twenty minutes.
After drinking three cups of strong coffee, Bao found himself completely wakeful at midnight.
Sivan spent a wakeful night on the train, unable to rest in the noisy carriage.
- sleepless
more common in everyday speech; 'sleepless' can describe a person or night, while 'wakeful' often implies an active effort or desire to sleep
- insomniac
clinical term for someone with a chronic sleep disorder; 'wakeful' is a general state, not a diagnosed condition
- restless
involves physical tossing and turning; 'wakeful' focuses on being unable to sleep rather than physical movement
文法句型
a + wakeful + night / period / journey
lie / remain / be + wakeful
find + [reflexive pronoun] + wakeful
用法筆記
Predicative use ('lie wakeful', 'remain wakeful') is more common in literary or formal writing. When describing a period of time, the word appears attributively before the noun ('a wakeful night'). Avoid using 'wakeful' to mean simply 'awake and alert during the day', which is a different meaning not covered by this sense.