wake-up call
nounDefinition of wake-up call
1
: something (such as a telephone call from a hotel employee to a guest) that serves to wake a sleeper
2
: something that serves to alert a person to a problem, danger, or need
a wake-up call to parents
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Synonyms for wake-up call
Synonyms
caution, red flag, red light, tip-off, tocsin, warning
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Examples of wake-up call in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Orientation day is a wake-up call for anyone who didn’t already know that the next 16 weeks would be among the most grueling of their lives. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Photo Essay: Learning to fight," 5 Sep. 2019 His wake-up call came with the 1994 Northridge earthquake that killed 61 people and caused $15 billion in damage. — John Rogers, Time, "California's Recent Earthquakes Are Reigniting Fears of the 'Big One'," 8 July 2019 His wake-up call came with the 1994 Northridge earthquake that killed 61 people and caused $15 billion in damage. — John Rogers, chicagotribune.com, "After 2 of the biggest earthquakes in decades, California residents urged to be ready for when the ‘Big One’ strikes," 7 July 2019 Reservations required to drink, build a lightsaber Visitors hoping to experience Oga’s Cantina or Savi’s Workshop will need two things — a credit card and an early wake-up call. — Scott Craven, azcentral, "No reservations needed: Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens to all June 24," 29 May 2019 The game was pushed up from 3 p.m. to 9 a.m. to avoid the threat of inclement weather, and UCF’s bats had no problem with the early wake-up call. — Brian Murphy, OrlandoSentinel.com, "UCF baseball drops AAC Tournament opener against East Carolina," 22 May 2018 This defeat to Udinese has to be a wake-up call for the Rossoneri and anything less than six points from the next two matches will be regarded as a disappointment. — SI.com, "Udinese 1-0 AC Milan: Report, Ratings & Reaction as Marco Giampaolo's Reign Begins With a Defeat," 25 Aug. 2019 And yet, once again, when the calendar rolled to August, the news of the new month seemed to come as a complete surprise to local news anchors, many of whom, once again, expressed their dismay over the calendrical wake-up call. — Melissa Locker, Time, "Please Enjoy All the Newscasters Totally Incapable of Believing That August Has Arrived," 2 Aug. 2019 Here’s what tickled and tormented us: Best wake-up call: The day began cloudy, gloomy and wet. — Kevin Williams, chicagotribune.com, "Pitchfork Music Fest 2019: What we loved and what we could do without on day 3," 21 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wake-up call.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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