a wake-up call

(American & Australian)

an event that warns someone that they need to deal with an urgent or dangerous problem (often + to do sth) The 1971 earthquake was a wake-up call to strengthen the city's bridges. (often + to ) The World Trade Center bombing has served as a wake-up call to the FBI on terrorism.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Maja (2)	MIE-ah (German, Polish)	Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Slovene, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Czech, Slovak
Abiram	ə-BIE-rəm (English)	Biblical
Alexus	ə-LEK-səs	English (Modern)
Imogen	IM-ə-jən	English (British)
Eufemia	e-oo-FE-myah (Spanish)	Italian, Spanish
Vinzent	VINT-sent	German