MEANING
A gathering to watch over or remember someone who has died, often before burial.
Use it for
Households gathering after death, shared stories, tensions among mourners.Bring grief into a social room where conversation can reveal family fractures.
Words that belong together
- hold a wake
- attend the wake
- funeral wake
On the page
At the wake, no one sat in her father's chair.
Someone laughed in the kitchen during the wake, and the sound shocked her.
They held the wake at home because the roads to town were flooded.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- wake
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Customs vary and may include food and conversation; unrelated senses include a trail behind a boat and the verb for ceasing sleep. Plural wakes. Verb senses are separate.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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