wake-up call

as in warning
something that tells of approaching danger or risk his high blood pressure was a wake-up call that he needed to do something about his health

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Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of wake-up call The persistence of that finding should be a wake-up call for employers already battling high turnover and labor shortages. Wire Services, Dallas News, 22 Mar. 2023 Those efforts show the pandemic has been a wake-up call, Horowitz said. Rachel Scott, ABC News, 22 Mar. 2023 Texas is on an entirely different level than those teams and had a bit of a wake-up call against Penn State. Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 20 Mar. 2023 Most important, the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) got a wake-up call that their oversight of middle-size banks has been dangerously lax. Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2023 See all Example Sentences for wake-up call 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wake-up call
Noun
  • The Clay Fire in Riverside County, near Los Angeles, has ignited on Tuesday evening, growing to nearly 40 acres and prompting evacuation warnings.
    Kristen Waggoner, Newsweek, 22 Jan. 2025
  • The first-ever blizzard warning has been issued for parts of Texas and Louisiana as a historic snowstorm begins in the Gulf Coast and then pushes east across the South.
    Kenton Gewecke, ABC News, 21 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • This week, when the National Weather Service issued red flag warnings, fire departments across Southern California again applied to pre-position teams, said Chief Brian Marshall, the state’s fire and rescue chief with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
    Erika I. Ritchie, Orange County Register, 24 Jan. 2025
  • What To Know Strong winds returned this week, leading meteorologists to issue red flag warnings advising people of critical fire weather.
    Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Treatment with red light therapy involves exposure to red light at a very low dose in a hospital or clinic.
    Praveen Arany, The Conversation, 24 Jan. 2025
  • The ordinance also established that motorists were allowed to make right turns at red lights.
    Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • This might be a sign of experiencing imposter syndrome and having a false concern of self-doubt in yourself.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Yet at a time when Spain has been buffeted by crises, including efforts to recover from devastating floods, Mr. Sánchez’s proposals are a sign of how critical housing is in Spain.
    Liz Alderman, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near wake-up call

Cite this Entry

“Wake-up call.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wake-up%20call. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

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