Woke

‘Woke’
Woke is usually among the top lookups of any given day, but lookups were especially high this week, possibly—as with waterboarding—in connection with Senate confirmation hearings for Pete Hegseth, as it is a word he has invoked in the past.

Hegseth, a 44-year-old former Fox News host and veteran, could face tough questions about his personal life and past, including his reported history of heavy drinking, his treatment of women and a sexual assault allegation filed against him eight years ago. Senators’ sights are also trained on Hegseth’s past comments opposing women serving in combat roles, which he walked back in the run-up to the hearing. A cultural critic of the military, Hegseth has accused the Pentagon of relaxing its personnel and training standards and adopting so-called “woke” ideology.
— Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today, 14 Jan. 2025

We define the adjective woke as “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” It originated in African American English and gained more widespread use beginning in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. By the end of that same decade it was also being applied by some as a general pejorative for anyone who is or appears to be politically left-leaning.