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

The tapestry holds a particular position in British public consciousness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

A global shift toward nonalcoholic drinks — driven by greater health consciousness from California to Cologne and beyond — has reached even the world’s biggest celebration of beer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

He characterized AI capabilities as statistical computations and warned that assigning consciousness to AI erodes human dignity.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

“If they destroy the Lakers, guys with Kobe back tattoos are going to start the proletariat revolution. I think that the closest we’re getting to class consciousness is fast food and sports teams.”

From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026

The bell rang and the teacher began to talk, and Hazel’s brain identified her voice as background noise and moved it to the rear of her consciousness.

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

Kirsh is a Prodigy scientist working beside Hybrids, a proprietary invention that involves downloading human consciousnesses into synthetic bodies.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2025

Their brains have been surgically altered, dividing their work life and home life into separate consciousnesses which are described by the company as “innies” and “outies.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2025

In this inventively loopy sci-fi thriller, employees at that shadowy firm undergo a brain procedure that splits their work and home selves into two separate consciousnesses.

From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2022

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

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2022

Thus, whatever our marble may be in itself, all that we can know of it is under the shape of a bundle of our own consciousnesses.

From Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews by Thomas Henry Huxley

Related Words

• alertness
• apprehension
• awareness
• recognition
• sensibility