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.
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Usually Awake: conscious and not asleep.
African-American Vernacular or slang
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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:
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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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!:
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):
[…] stay woke[,] people of color, / let us occupy this dissent2014, Lynn Sweeting, WomanSpeak, A Journal of Writing and Art by Caribbean Women, volume 7:
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Government, PoliticsBroadly, Derogatory, Often, Slang, Usually Holding progressive views or attitudes, principally with regard to social justice.
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:
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:
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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:
[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:
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:
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:
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Government, PoliticsBroadly, Derogatory, Slang, Usually Promoting cancel culture, identitarianism, 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:
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:
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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:
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.
1
Derogatory, Often, Slang A person with progressive views or attitudes.
Not to beat a dead horse, but it would appear that the wokes are in an abusive relationship with the speech policemen, given that some of their favored terms are being abruptly disallowed (like trigger warning or “preferred” pronouns).2022 December 21, Judson Berger, “You Can’t Say That at Stanford”, in National Review:
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Derogatory, Slang A progressive ideology, in particular with regards to social justice.
Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London, said the war on woke kicked off as a counter to the “silent revolution” of liberal and progressive attitudes during the economic boom of the decades up to 2008.2021 January 8, Emilio Casalicchio, “Britain’s culture war extends beyond Brexit”, in Politico:
The woke is the new religion of the left.2022-02-24, Ron DeSantis, Governor DeSantis and Senator Blackburn Address CPAC, via C-SPAN:
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Millennials, such as Styles (and the other Harry, HRH, for that matter), were able to popularise and profit from woke.2023 February 18, Panda La Terriere, “Why Gen Z is turning against woke culture”, in The Spectator:
For I’m afraid the demise of woke won’t be like the end of toothbrush moustaches, indie folk music or any other temporary behaviour supercharged by the whims of the young and the hip, then dropped without consequence.2024 April 22, Kathleen Stock, “Turn of the woke tide will leave many stranded”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC: