There are not many idioms in the English language with so many interpretations. ‘Awaken the beast’ is among the few English idioms that may have different meanings in different contexts.
If you are here to find similar idioms that can replace ‘Awaken the Beast’, you have come to the right place. Some words and phrases that can replace this idiom include ‘Wake’, ‘seduce’, ‘rise to the challenge’, ‘alert’ etc.
The four examples listed above are synonyms for ‘Awaken the Beast’ but they all have different meanings.
This is because ‘Awaken the Beast’ has over four meanings and, to be able to use synonyms correctly, we have to find the right contexts.
Meanings of “Awaken the Beast”
The idiom, ‘Awaken the beast’, has a total of five meanings. If you only know one or two of these meanings, you may find yourself misinterpreting certain statements.
The misinterpretation of this idiom will be a big mistake in some contexts, considering how it has both dirty and clean meanings.
The meanings of the idiom “Awaken the Beast” are;
- To wake from sleep
- To arouse sensual urge
- To perform one’s best in something.
- To call attention or to become alert.
- To arouse a random interest or feeling
To wake from sleep
You can say ‘the beast is awakened’. This implies that a certain person has woken up
You can also say a person has ‘awoken the beast’ if the person has woken another person up. Again, the last two words only replace the object of the sentence with no particular meaning.
To arouse sensual urge
When you awaken the beast in a person, you have aroused a person and he or she wants to make love to you. In other words, you have succeeded in seducing him or her.
You can say the beast is awoken in you if you are already aroused. For a male, your ‘beast’ may be referring to the little guy in your pants so when you say your beast has awoken or ‘risen’, then you are referring to your erection.
To perform one’s best at something
As mentioned earlier, this idiom may also have clean meanings so if you misinterpret a clean statement for a dirty one, you may be reacting wrongly.
When you tell a person to awaken the beast in himself or herself, you are telling him or her to face a challenge head-on and do his or her best.
When you say a person’s beast has awoken, then the person is already doing great at something that he or she may have been failing at.
To call attention or to become alert
When you awaken the beast (referring to a person), you are giving a warning to someone strong or fierce.
It’s like asking for a person’s assistance. When you call someone powerful or feared to help you, then you have awoken the beast.
You may be intruding on a person’s space or trying to use trickery to defeat a person. Once the person realizes what you are doing and turns against you, then you have awoken the beast. That person is the beast.
To arouse a random interest or feeling
You can also use the ‘beast’ to refer to a random feeling. It could be anger. It could also be an interest in something. You can say: ‘He is a great designer. The fashion show awoke the beast in him’.
You can also say: ‘He’s going to tear you apart. You just awoke the beast with that shameless move’.
12 Different Ways To Say “Awaken the Beast”
- A wake-up call.
- Rise and shine!
- Wake up to reality.
- To have the hots for someone.
- To go all out.
- Break the back of the beast.
- Give a heads-up
- Rise to the occasion
- On one’s toes
- Waking on the wrong part/side of one’s bed
- Stir up
- To pull an all-nighter
A wake-up call
This cannot be a perfect replacement for ‘awaken the beast’ in a sentence but the two idioms have similar meanings.
A wake-up call refers to any happening or situation that makes a person become serious about his or her life or challenges.
When a person gets a wake-up call, he or she stops joking about something. He or she stops being carefree about a particular thing. Instead, he or she works harder to perform his or her best.
Rise and shine!
We may also see it as some sort of interjection. It cannot be used in the middle of a sentence so it just stands on its own.
When you say this to a person, the person must be on his or her bed dozing off or already asleep. This is what you say to tell a person to wake up.
It is also considered a good wish for happiness. In other words, you are wishing the person a happy morning.
Wake up to reality
Asides from having the same meaning as ‘Awaken the beast’, the two phrases can replace each other in some sentences. This is because both of them are verb phrases.
You can say a person’s beast has awoken when he or she is working harder or performing at his or her best. You can also say the same person has woken up to reality.
In other words, the person must have been sleeping or lagging. You can say ‘The speech awoke the beast in him’. Now he’s the best’. You can also say ‘The speech woke him up to reality. Now he’s the best on our team’.
This idiom is also similar to ‘awaken the beast’ when referring to alertness. You can say a person has woken up to reality when he or she becomes aware of a situation or an incoming attack.
To have the hots for someone
This idiom is only slightly similar to ‘Awaken the Beast’. It shares a minor similarity with the sensual meaning of ‘Awaken the Beast’.
When you say you have the hots for a person, you are implying that you are attracted to the person. It often refers to sensual attraction. While ‘Awaken the Beast’ may refer to sudden arousal or seduction, this idiom doesn’t.
Therefore, it cannot be a good replacement for ‘awaken the beast’ in a sentence.
However, you get to say this to pass a slightly similar dirty meaning when you are sensually interested in a person.
To go all out
When you awaken the beast in a person, you have aroused some seriousness, strength, or determination in the person and he or she will be performing better at whatever task may be there to complete.
The verb phrase mentioned above has the same meaning. It cannot perfectly replace ‘awaken the beast’ in a sentence though.
When you say a person is going all out, it means he or she is performing at his or her eat. When you say a person’s beast has woken, it may also mean the person is performing at an unexpected rate.
Break the back of the beast
Have you ever heard this idiom anywhere? Its meaning is quite different from ‘Awaken the Beast’ but we can point out a slight similarity between the two.
You can say a person’s beast is awoken (or the beast has awoken in a person) if he or she is suddenly performing at an unexpected rate in a challenge.
When you say a person has broken the back of the beast, it means he or she has achieved something. It doesn’t mean he or she has broken anyone’s back.
The beast could refer to any challenge or task. It means the person has completed the challenge successfully.
Give a heads-up
Here is another idiom that is just a bit different from ‘Awaken the Beast’ but also similar in a way. It definitely can’t replace ‘awaken the beast’ in a sentence.
In the fourth meaning explained above, ‘Awaken the beast’ may refer to a person’s alertness. When you awaken the beast, then you may have alerted a person unintentionally. A person’s beast may also be awoken by something.
When you give a person a heads-up, you alert the person ‘intentionally’. It means you are warning the person about something or someone. This makes it different from ‘Awaken the Beast’.
However, you can use both in a similar way. You can say ‘Daniel’s beast was awoken by the strange footsteps. His enemies were present.’
You can also say: “The strange footsteps gave Daniel a heads-up. His enemies were approaching.”
Rise to the occasion
Here is an idiom that has two meanings just as ‘Awaken the beast’ has several meanings. The two meanings of this idiom are similar to ‘Awaken the Beast’.
You can say a person rises to the occasion to imply that the person has gotten serious with a challenge and is now performing well.
When you say a person’s beast has awoken, you can also say he or she has risen to the occasion or he or she has risen to the challenge.
You may also say this to refer to an erection. In other words, a man’s genital has ‘risen to the occasion’ and he is already aroused.
On one’s toes
This can refer to a person’s alertness. It may also refer to going all out. It has two meanings which are both similar to ‘Awaken the Beast’.
When you say you are now on your toes, you are also saying you have now awoken your beast. In other words, you have become serious about whatever challenge you are dealing with.
You can also say you are on your toes when you have become alert. You can say something has got you on your toes when it has alerted you.
Waking on the wrong part/side of one’s bed
Here is an addition that isn’t quite similar to ‘Awaken the Beast’. Asides from the fact that it has to do with waking up, it has no similarity to ‘Awaken the Beast’.
When you say a person has woken up on the wrong side of his or her bed, the person must be in a bad mood.
When a person ‘wakes up on the wrong side of the bed’, he or she gets easily annoyed. The person may get angry for no plausible reason.
Stir up
This has to do with alerting a person or becoming alerted. It may also refer to the feeling of anger. It is quite similar to ‘awaken the beast’ and can replace the idiom in some sentences.
You can say you have stirred a person up if you have alerted the person whether intentionally or unintentionally.
You may also say have been stirred up. This means you are on alert. You may have been alerted by something or another.
‘Stir up’ can also be used to refer to the feeling of anger. While ‘Awaken the beast’ can refer to inciting any feeling, ‘stir up’ most often refers to the arousal of anger.
To pull an all-nighter
This may be considered the opposite of the first meaning of ‘Awaken the beast’. Even in that case, it is still not a perfect replacement as an antonym in a sentence.
When you say a person is pulling an all-nighter, it means the person is staying up all night for whatever reason there may be. ‘Awaken the beast’ may refer to the act of waking a person up.