wake-up call

plural wake-up calls · alternative wakeup call · alternative wake up call

1. USliterallyA telephone call to awaken someone at a certain time, especially one requested by the person while staying at a hotel.

   She requested a five a.m. wake-up call from the front desk.

   Synonyms: alarm call, morning call

2. figurativelyAn alert, reminder, or call to action caused by a dramatic event.

   Near-synonym: reality check

   4 more examples

   The recent deaths should serve as a wake-up call to others at risk.

   Youth violence represents an insistent, angry wake-up call to every parent, every teacher, every religious leader, every student.

   1997 December 6, Bill Clinton, Presidential Radio Address

   "I will never forget the seven people who lost their lives and those who were injured, which was a real wake-up call to those of us involved in public transport and operating tram networks around the world. […]."

   2020 November 18, Mike Brown tells Paul Stephen, “I wasn't going to let the Mayor down”, in Rail, page 44

   Instead, we must find an unworthy substitute for the defeat of a foe in that small grin we quickly suppress when we learn that a beheadphoned texter got hit by a car—no, not seriously injured, just bruised up enough to give him a wake-up call.

   2021, William Ian Miller, “The Law of Conservation of Good Things”, in Outrageous Fortune: Gloomy Reflections on Luck and Life, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 34

   Synonyms: reality check