woke
Pluralwokes (some meanings)
- 1Past tense of wake.
He woke to the sound of rain drumming on the roof.
They woke before dawn to catch the early train.
UsageOften woke up. After have, standard English uses woken: she had woken early.
- 2Holding or promoting progressive views, especially on social justice, regarded as self-righteous, intolerant, or excessive; used disparagingly.
My grandfather rolls his eyes and calls my whole group of friends woke.
He complained that the university had grown too woke for his liking.
UsageAt times put in scare quotes. It compares freely: too woke, the wokest.
Note
Politics turned the compliment into a jab. The derogatory use became the most common one in the 2020s, and writers often wrap the word in scare quotes. Unlike the literal "awake" sense, it compares freely: Jamelle Bouie's 2019 column speaks of "the wokest candidates." Politically correct and right-on are near synonyms, and politically incorrect and unwoke stand opposite.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The formerly approving term acquired a disparaging political use. en.wikipedia.org
- The derogatory use predominated by the 2020s. en.wiktionary.org
- Jamelle Bouie's 6 December 2019 column uses the phrase “the wokest candidates.” en.wiktionary.org
- 3Alert and well-informed about social problems, especially racism and other social justice issues.
A woke audience challenged the speaker on his outdated views about gender.
Staying woke about systemic inequality means questioning the news you take for granted.
UsageSet phrase stay woke; the opposite is unwoke.
Note
Awareness pictured as wakefulness. The social-justice sense goes back at least to the 1930s, and its signature phrase is stay woke. J. Saunders Redding writes "we'll stay woke up longer" in a wartime essay, Barry Beckham's Garvey Lives! (1972) has "I'm gon stay woke," and Erykah Badu sings the phrase in 2008. Here the word approves, and its opposite is unwoke; the disparaging political use came later.
- 4Past participle of wake (colloquial or dialectal; woken is the usual form).
They have woke to snow several mornings in a row.
He had woke earlier than usual that day.
UsageIn careful writing, have woken is the form to use.
Note
Have woke once sat comfortably in literary prose: Thackeray writes "have woke out of dreams" in 1860. Today it belongs to colloquial or dialectal speech, as in Joy Dettman's One Sunday: "Something must have woke you." This older participle is also one possible seed of the plain "awake" adjective.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Thackeray used have woke out of dreams in literary prose in 1860. gutenberg.org
- The participle woke is a possible source of the adjective meaning awake. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 5Progressive ideology, especially concerning social justice; used disparagingly.
The senator vowed to drive woke out of the nation's classrooms.
Talk radio hosts rail against woke as a threat to traditional values.
UsageMostly with no article before it: the war on woke, to profit from woke.
Note
Ron DeSantis's "The woke is the new religion of the left" (2022) shows the rarer form with the. Successor ideology is a near synonym from the same critical vocabulary, and both treat a loose set of positions as a single doctrine.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Ron DeSantis said “The woke is the new religion of the left” in 2022. democracyinaction.us
- “Successor ideology” belongs to the same critical vocabulary and describes the positions grouped under “woke” as one ideology. en.wiktionary.org
- 6A person who holds progressive views or attitudes; used disparagingly.
The columnist sneered that the wokes had taken over the arts council.
Every time the studio cast a new hero, angry fans flooded the forums with posts about the wokes ruining their childhood.
UsageThe plural is wokes, as in the wokes, referring to people as a group.
Note
A noun made straight from the adjective, and almost always a sneer. Judson Berger's "the wokes" in National Review (2022) treats such people as a type. It is countable, with the plural wokes, and that sets it apart from the ideology noun: the wokes are people, while woke on its own names a creed.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Judson Berger used “the wokes” in National Review in 2022. en.wiktionary.org
- Berger’s phrase refers disparagingly to people as a group. en.wiktionary.org
- 7In a conscious, waking state rather than asleep.
Half the house was still woke long after midnight.
She stayed woke until the storm finally passed.
UsageAfter a verb: be woke, stay woke. Most speakers say awake.
Similarawake, conscious, alert, wakeful
Oppositeasleep
Note
The literal sense that every other one grows from. It is either shortened from woken or woken up, or carried over from the dialectal past participle of wake.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The literal meaning ‘awake’ underlies the later metaphorical senses. wordorigins.org
- The adjective is shortened from ‘woken’ or ‘woken up’, or derives from dialectal ‘woke’, the past participle of ‘wake’. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
woke is a form of wake
wake, verb: To stop sleeping and become conscious and alert, or to make someone do this. Full entry
- Spelling
- wake → woke: irregular (no -ed)
Practice
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Origin
The adjective may come from shortening "woken" or "woken up", or from using "woke" as a dialectal past participle of "wake". Its meaning of awareness of social injustice is recorded from at least the 1930s. Its use as an insult has been widespread since the late 2010s.