Polyglot Dictionary

despabilar

/despaβiˈlaɾ/

verb C1

el (masc.) la (fem.)

Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.

V Register Neutral Era Current Frequency Academic Domain General Tone Neutral

Forms

present (yo)
despabilo
preterite (yo)
despabilé
past participle
despabilado

Meaning

  1. to wake up

    • Despabila, que llegamos tarde.

      Wake up, we're late.

V Category Action Concreteness Concrete Agency Voluntary Duration Punctual Transitivity Intransitive

Similar words

espabilar

despabilar and espabilar are close synonyms, regional variants, for "to wake up," and both also mean "to wise up, get sharp."

despertar

despertar is the basic, everyday word "to wake up"; despabilar implies waking up fully, becoming alert, or figuratively becoming street-smart.

Similar in other languages

Portuguese

espertar

espertar is the Portuguese word for the same thing — both mean "to wake up."

Practice

1 What does despabilar mean?

2 Which fingerprint chart matches despabilar?

verb

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