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

To be in that space, you see your audience experiencing these songs they’ve “lived” in a completely different state of consciousness.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2026

She initially thought she had a routine urinary infection, but within 36 hours she was in and out of consciousness and vomiting what she describes as "black tar".

From BBC • Jun. 16, 2026

“There’s just a dawning understanding of broader American consciousness about caregiving and aging. It’s a massive infrastructure issue and economic issue that will impact all of us in some way.”

From MarketWatch • Jun. 16, 2026

He offers no argumentation, no humility in light of humanity’s vast uncertainty about what consciousness is, no engagement with a growing body of empirical research.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

There was something else, something inherently evil had drifted into my wakeful consciousness, a bad dream of some kind—a warning, perhaps.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

Related Words

• alertness
• apprehension
• awareness
• recognition
• sensibility