woke en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /woʊk/ (Canada, General-American)
- /wəʊk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (UK) audio
- /wɐʉk/ (New-Zealand)
- /wəʉk/ (Australia)
- (Southern-England) audio
- wōk
- /woːk/ (India)
- /wɐʉk/ (Australia)
- (US) audio
- /wok/ (Scotland)
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.
Meanings
- (not-comparable, qualifier:African-American Vernacular or slang, usually) Awake: conscious and not asleep.
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(not-comparable, slang, usually) Alert, aware of what is going on, or well-informed, especially of racial and other social justice issues.
Waking up is a damn sight harder than going to sleep, but we’ll stay woke up longer.
1942, J. Saunders Redding, “Negro Digest”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 1:I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr. Garvey done woke me up, I’m gon stay woke. And I’m gon help him wake up other black folk.
1972, Barry Beckham, Garvey Lives!:[…] stay woke[,] people of color, / let us occupy this dissent
2014, Lynn Sweeting, WomanSpeak, A Journal of Writing and Art by Caribbean Women, volume 7:What if there was no niccas / Only master teachers? / I stay woke (dreams dreams)
2008, Erykah Badu, “Master Teacher”, in New Amerykah Part One (4th World War):If You’re Woke You Dig It [title]
1962 May 20, William Melvin Kelley, “If You’re Woke You Dig It”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 45:
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(broadly, derogatory, not-comparable, often, slang, usually) Holding progressive views or attitudes, principally with regard to social justice.
Mr. Prevost, who described himself to Mr. Morgan as a “MAGA type,” said the new pope was “much more liberal” than he was — although, when asked, he said that he would not necessarily call his brother “woke.”
2025 May 13, Richard Fausset, quoting Louis Prevost, “The Pope’s Florida Brother, a MAGA Disciple, Plans to ‘Tone It Down’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 May 2025:[Kevin Smith is] also baffled by some of the accusations that he tried to make the franchise “woke” by focusing on Teela.
2021 July 26, Lauren Sarner, “Kevin Smith on ‘Masters of the Universe’ and fan backlash”, in New York Post:Like, if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself, cause, "Man, you see how woke I was, I called you out." That’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change.
2019 October 29, Emily S. Rueb, Derrick Bryson Taylor, quoting Barack Obama, “Obama on Call-Out Culture: ‘That’s Not Activism’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:Rightwing Tory MPs should stop portraying concerns over the climate and nature as “woke”, and understand that voters are deeply concerned about the crisis, the Conservative minister Zac Goldsmith has warned.
2022 November 15, Fiona Harvey, quoting Zac Goldsmith, “‘Stupid’ to equate climate concerns with being woke, says Zac Goldsmith”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:If this were actually true, you would expect real traction for the wokest candidates in the Democratic presidential race. But it’s been just the opposite. The woke candidates have been the weakest, electorally speaking, and the defining attribute of the Democratic primary has been a preoccupation with the voters that put Trump in the White House.
2019 December 6, Jamelle Bouie, “Why the ‘Wokest’ Candidates Are the Weakest”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC: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.
2016 August 14, Ross Douthat, “A Playboy for President”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
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(broadly, derogatory, not-comparable, slang, usually) Promoting cancel culture, pontification, victim mentality, or virtue signalling.
The famous author of Harry Potter, J K Rowling, found herself at the centre of a woke storm after liking a tweet by Maya Forstater, who lost her job in 2019 after tweeting that “male people are not women”. The reaction was immediate, with some accusing Forstater of “killing trans people with her hate” for simply expressing an opinion.
2021 June 24, Johnny Luk, “Why ‘woke’ became toxic”, in Al Jazeera, Opinion:The woke right and woke left demand that we internalize our status as victim. Progressives want women and people of color and the poor and LGBTQ people to feel like they are besieged, like they constantly face a barrage of marginalization and disdain. How different is the woke right? Even a brief perusal of the sources I quoted above shows that they very much want straight White men not only to recognize that they are victims, strangers in their own country, but to internalize this identity.
2024 June 8, Neil Shenvi, “What is the “Woke Right”?”, in Neil Shenvi – Apologetics:Many on the ‘woke right’ who for some time have spoken against cancel culture, have chosen to embrace a version of their own, boycotting companies that support progressive causes, for example. The overwhelming support for DeSantis’ fight against Disney in Florida is one such illustration. The boycott of Bud Light over the company’s paid promotional social media posts using trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney is another.
2023 May 10, Katherine Brodsky, “The Rise of the Right Wing Woke”, in Random Minds, via Substack:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| woker | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most woke | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more woke | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| wokest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Antonyms
politically incorrect · unwoke · philistine · unwoke
Coordinates
right-on · politically correct
Deriveds
Wokeland · wokester · hyperwoke · get woke, go broke · woketard · unwoke · wokeist · wokeish · wokewashing · wokefish · wokist · Wokepedia · wokeness · wokery · woken · woke right · woke-ism · dewokify · wokerati · woke Olympics · wokie · Great Awokening · woke capitalism · woke-free · woke church · wokefest · Hollywoke · woke supremacist · woke mind virus · wokespeak · woke supremacy · woketopian · wokism · woker · wokedom · wokescold · wokel · Woketopia · wokejoshi · wokeling · wokify · war on woke · wokewash · wokelash · wokeass · woke mob · dark woke · wokification · Wokeistan · wokeism
Descendants
Synonyms
woke · observant · invigorating · vigilant · awake · on watch · watchful · caffeinated · heedful · alert · invigorated · on the lookout · politically correct · lively · wary · wakeful · wakesome · on guard · on the watch · right-on · hip · wakesome · wakeful · alert · aware · woke · conscious
Translations (45)
th ตื่นรู้ (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · sv woke (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · mi arowā (alert to what is happening) · mi aroā (alert to what is happening) · cmn 撅醒 (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · pt lacradora (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · hu felvilágosult (alert to what is happening) · fi tiedostava (alert to what is happening) · cmn 覺醒 /觉醒 (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · fr au fait (alert to what is happening) · pt ligado (alert to what is happening) · it pidiota (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · hu jól értesült (alert to what is happening) · de wachsam (alert to what is happening) · ja ポリコレ (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · pl woke (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · nl woke (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · th ตาสว่าง (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · de politisch korrekt (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · ka ფხიზელი (alert to what is happening) · es alerta (alert to what is happening) · sh budan (alert to what is happening) · pt lacrador (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · fr politiquement correct (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · sv PK (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · hu tájékozott (alert to what is happening) · pt woke (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · he נֵעוֹר (alert to what is happening) · sv upplyst (alert to what is happening) · sh osviješten (alert to what is happening) · cs politicky korektní (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · sk politicky korektný (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · ar نَبِه (alert to what is happening) · sh svjestan (alert to what is happening) · fr woke (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · th โวก (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · hu éber (alert to what is happening) · da politisk korrekt (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · eo bajzuo (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · it gretino (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · ar يَقِظ (alert to what is happening) · ka ყურადღებიანი (alert to what is happening) · es progre (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · ka ვოუქი (politically correct; stereotypically leftist) · de aufmerksam (alert to what is happening)