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

He had been a medical student at the University of Natal when he founded the Black Consciousness Movement, aimed at empowering and mobilising the urban black population.

From BBC • Sep. 12, 2025

Andrews was a coauthor of the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, a declaration signed last April by a long list of animal consciousness, philosophy, neuroscience and cognitive science luminaries at New York University.

From Salon • May 13, 2025

He called the movement the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON.

From New York Times • May 22, 2024

The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness suggested that primates, dolphins, elephants, birds and cephalopods exhibited brain activity implying self-reflective awareness and abstract thinking.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 5, 2024

“True. Consciousness makes for poor windows, too. I don’t think I’d ever thought about it quite that way.”

From "Paper Towns" by John Green

Related Words

• alertness
• apprehension
• awareness
• recognition
• sensibility