Colloquial Variant guide

woke

adj · noun · verb · 8 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • wōk
  • Received-Pronunciation: /wəʊk/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, General-American: /woʊk/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /wəʉk/
  • Australian: /wɐʉk/
  • New-Zealand: /wɐʉk/
  • Scotland: /wok/
  • India: /woːk/
  • rhymes with -əʊk
  • CMU ARPABET: W OW1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Awake: conscious and not asleep.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, usually

Qualifier: African-American Vernacular or slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: alert, awake, caffeinated, conscious, invigorated, invigorating, lively, wakeful, wakesome, woke

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Alert, aware of what is going on, or well-informed, especially of racial and other social justice issues.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, slang, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: alert, aware, heedful, hip, observant, on guard, on the lookout, on the watch, on watch, vigilant, wakeful, wakesome, wary, watchful, woke

Antonyms: unwoke

3

adj

Meaning 3

Holding progressive views or attitudes, principally with regard to social justice.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, derogatory, not-comparable, often, slang, usually

Topics: government, politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: politically correct, right-on

Antonyms: politically incorrect, unwoke, philistine

4

adj

Meaning 4

Promoting cancel culture, identitarianism, pontification, victim mentality, or virtue signalling.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, derogatory, not-comparable, slang, usually

Topics: government, politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A person with progressive views or attitudes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, derogatory, often, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A progressive ideology, in particular with regards to social justice.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, slang, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: successor ideology

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

simple past of wake

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

past participle of wake

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: colloquial, dialectal, form-of, participle, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Shortened from woken or woken up, or derived from dialectal use of woke (past participle of wake). The sense of being aware of social injustice dates to at least the 1930s. The derogatory use has been most commonly used as of the 2020s.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Across languages

Translations

44 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: يَقِظ (yaqiẓ) — alert to what is happening
  • Arabic: نَبِه (nabih) — alert to what is happening
  • Finnish: tiedostava — alert to what is happening
  • French: au fait — alert to what is happening
  • Georgian: ყურადღებიანი (q̇uradɣebiani) — alert to what is happening
  • Georgian: ფხიზელი (pxizeli) — alert to what is happening
  • German: aufmerksam — alert to what is happening
  • German: wachsam — alert to what is happening
  • Hebrew: נֵעוֹר (ne'ór) — alert to what is happening
  • Hungarian: éber — alert to what is happening
  • Hungarian: jól értesült — alert to what is happening
  • Hungarian: felvilágosult — alert to what is happening
  • Hungarian: tájékozott — alert to what is happening
  • Māori: aroā — alert to what is happening
  • Māori: arowā — alert to what is happening
  • Portuguese: ligado — alert to what is happening
  • Serbo-Croatian: budan — alert to what is happening
  • Serbo-Croatian: svjestan — alert to what is happening
  • Serbo-Croatian: osviješten — alert to what is happening
  • Spanish: alerta — alert to what is happening
  • Swedish: upplyst — alert to what is happening
  • Chinese Mandarin: 覺醒 /觉醒 (juéxǐng) — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Chinese Mandarin: 撅醒 (juēxǐng) — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Czech: politicky korektní — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Danish: politisk korrekt — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Dutch: woke — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • French: politiquement correct — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • French: woke — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Georgian: ვოუქი (vouki) — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • German: politisch korrekt — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Italian: pidiota — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Italian: gretino — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Japanese: ポリコレ — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Polish: woke — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Portuguese: lacrador — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Portuguese: lacradora — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Portuguese: woke — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Slovak: politicky korektný — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Spanish: progre — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Swedish: woke — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Swedish: PK — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Thai: ตื่นรู้ (dtʉ̀ʉn-rúu) — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Thai: ตาสว่าง (dtaa-sà-wàang) — politically correct; stereotypically leftist
  • Thai: โวก (wóok) — politically correct; stereotypically leftist