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

And yes, while the Olympics are one point of public familiarity, that’s just one small part of our collective cultural consciousness around the sport.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Scientists widely agree that organoids are not capable of consciousness or other higher-order brain functions.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

The fallout from Austria’s defeat in World War I gave a first taste of class consciousness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

That relationship suggests that greater communication across brain networks may be associated with a stronger likelihood of experiencing profound changes in consciousness.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026

Isolated victories can be won—even a string of victories—but in the absence of a fundamental shift in public consciousness, the system as a whole will remain intact.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Plus, you have all of the 23 other consciousnesses that were on the severed floor that Dichen so beautifully lived out.

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

In the other central conceit of “Pure Colour,” Mira and her father are paired as dual consciousnesses in a leaf, which functions as an extended metaphor for the interconnected entrapment of grief.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 16, 2022

Ladd says she's received a message that needs to be shared from "higher dimensional consciousnesses," what she refers to as the "Galactic Federation of Light."

From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2021

There are within it antecedents and consequents which are also durations which may be the complete specious presents of quicker consciousnesses.

From The Concept of Nature The Tarner Lectures Delivered in Trinity College, November 1919 by Alfred North Whitehead

Related Words

• alertness
• apprehension
• awareness
• recognition
• sensibility