Wakefulness

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈweɪk.fʊl.nəs/

Definitions

1. The state of being alert, conscious, and aware of one's surroundings rather than sleeping or drowsy
2. The condition of being fully alert and mentally active, characterized by awareness and responsiveness instead of sleepiness or lethargy
3. A state in which an individual experiences active consciousness and attentiveness, as opposed to being asleep or drowsy

Etymology: "Wakefulness" is a straightforward formation: the adjective "wakeful," meaning awake or alert, plus the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. The adjective itself is built from "wake" and the suffix "-ful," meaning "full of" or "characterised by," so a wakeful person is one full of waking. The "wake" element goes back to Old English "wacian," to be awake, and it belongs to an old Germanic family of words for rousing and staying alert. The suffix "-ness" has a much longer pedigree than the word it attaches to. It descends from Old English "-nes," which came from Proto-Germanic forms ultimately linked to Proto-Indo-European roots meaning something like a state or condition. Its Middle English form was "-nesse," and by the modern period it had become the productive ending used to coin countless abstract nouns, so "wakefulness" simply applies it to the condition of being wakeful.

Synonyms: alertness, vigilance, awareness, attentiveness, consciousness

Antonyms: sleepiness, drowsiness, fatigue, lethargy, inattention