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
Nadejda	nah-DYEZH-dah (Russian)	Russian, Bulgarian
Chedomir	-	Macedonian, Medieval Slavic
Kazimierz	kah-ZEEM-yesh	Polish
Pit	PIT	Limburgish
Paige	[peidʒ]
BjØRg	-	Norwegian