consciousness

American  

[kon-shuhs-nis] / ˈkɒn ʃəs nɪs /

noun

consciousnesses plural

1. the state of being conscious; awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc.

2. the thoughts and feelings, collectively, of an individual or of an aggregate of people.

   the moral consciousness of a nation.

3. full activity of the mind and senses, as in waking life.

   to regain consciousness after fainting.

4. awareness of something for what it is; internal knowledge.

   consciousness of wrongdoing.

5. concern, interest, or acute awareness.

   class consciousness.

6. the mental activity of which a person is aware as contrasted with unconscious mental processes.

7. Philosophy. the mind or the mental faculties as characterized by thought, feelings, and volition.

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idioms

1. raise one's consciousness, to increase one's awareness and understanding of one's own needs, behavior, attitudes, etc., especially as a member of a particular social or political group.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underconsciousness
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• consciousnesses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of consciousness

First recorded in 1625–35; conscious + -ness

Explanation

When you are awake and aware of your surroundings, that's consciousness. There are different types of consciousness, including social consciousness, being aware of injustices in society. The early Latin word conscius meant "with knowing," but it meant a shared knowledge, a meaning that was retained through the 16th Century. John Locke was the first to describe consciousness in relation to the individual, referring to it as “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind." If you lose consciousness during the performance, we'll wake you up with some smelling salts!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

consciousness consciousnesses

That could create new opportunities for studying consciousness, memory, emotional processing, and mental health.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026

The novels that followed “Lord of the Flies” explored the strange states human consciousness can create.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

There was a narrative that Lionel Messi could not be considered in such terms without a World Cup to his name, both in the global consciousness but also in Argentina, where Diego Maradona's legacy loomed.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

“Totoro is where my consciousness begins,” Miyazaki once said.

From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026

I had long felt with pleasure that many of my rustic scholars liked me, and when we parted, that consciousness was confirmed: they manifested their affection plainly and strongly.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

“Alien: Earth” follows a group of children whose consciousnesses are transferred into synthetic adult bodies.

From Salon ● Dec. 14, 2025

The end of the series really becomes about all of those different consciousnesses having contrasting desires.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2025

We attempted to be as objective as possible but were also aware that there are countless other exhibitions that, whatever their contributions to the culture at large, live on in individual consciousnesses.

From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2023

According to her, the woman portrayed as a trickster "sums up our modern fragmented, hyphenated identities and multiple consciousnesses".

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2022

I believe this: If, when we pass into the Unknown, we continue to exist as individual consciousnesses, then we carry with us the heaven and the hell that we have each upbuilt for ourselves.”

From Out of the Depths A Romance of Reclamation by Brehm, George

Related Words

• alertness
• apprehension
• awareness
• recognition
• sensibility