conscious

American

[kon-shuhs] / ˈkɒn ʃəs /

adjective

aware of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc.
fully aware of or sensitive to something (often followed byof ).

conscious of one's own faults; He wasn't conscious of the gossip about his past.

Synonyms:

percipient, knowing
having the mental faculties fully active.

He was conscious during the operation.
known to oneself; felt.

conscious guilt.
aware of what one is doing.

a conscious liar.
aware of oneself; self-conscious.
deliberate; intentional.

a conscious insult; a conscious effort.
acutely aware of or concerned about.

money-conscious; a diet-conscious society.
Obsolete. inwardly sensible of wrongdoing.

noun

Psychoanalysis. the conscious, the part of the mind comprising psychic material of which the individual is aware.

conscious British

/ ˈkɒnʃəs /

adjective

1. alert and awake; not sleeping or comatose
2. aware of one's surroundings, one's own thoughts and motivations, etc
1. aware of and giving value or emphasis to a particular fact or phenomenon
  
  I am conscious of your great kindness to me
2. ( in combination )
  
  clothes-conscious
done with full awareness; deliberate

a conscious effort
conscious rudeness
1. denoting or relating to a part of the human mind that is aware of a person's self, environment, and mental activity and that to a certain extent determines his choices of action
2. ( as noun )
  
  the conscious is only a small part of the mind

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

Conscious, aware, cognizant refer to an individual sense of recognition of something within or without oneself. Conscious implies to be awake or awakened to an inner realization of a fact, a truth, a condition, etc.: to be conscious of an extreme weariness. Aware lays the emphasis on sense perceptions insofar as they are the object of conscious recognition: He was aware of the odor of tobacco. Cognizant lays the emphasis on an outer recognition more on the level of reason and knowledge than on the sensory level alone: He was cognizant of their drawbacks.

Other Word Forms

consciously adverb
consciousness noun
half-conscious adjective
half-consciousness noun
nonconscious adjective
nonconsciousness noun
overconscious adjective
overconsciousness noun
quasi-conscious adjective

Etymology

Origin of conscious

First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin conscius “sharing knowledge with,” equivalent to con- con- + sci- (stem of scīre “to know”; science ) + -us -ous; nice

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Not because for the first time in my life I had told a conscious lie.

From Literature

Advanced Navigation has plans for a base in Huntsville, Alabama, that it expects will improve its chances of successfully pitching to security conscious customers who want to deal with U.S.-based companies.

From The Wall Street Journal

Early fears that the fast-food colossus would be overly brand conscious and dictate content were allayed.

From Los Angeles Times

I was suddenly conscious that my own locks were splayed messily down my back, but I resisted the itch to gather them and rake them smooth.

From Literature

But conscious thought isn’t as common as we think.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023