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 researchers believe the difference between consciousness and awareness offers an important insight into how people understand artificial intelligence.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

She was 59 when she collapsed during a Christmas holiday in Spain, lost consciousness, stopped breathing and had no pulse or heartbeat after suffering a cardiac arrest.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Perhaps, if you want to be really cynical about it, you could boil down all of human nature and biology and the emergence of consciousness into “a lot of math” as well.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

“I think my political consciousness was formed early on,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Without regaining consciousness, Abraham Lincoln died the next morning.

From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow

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

From Salon ● Dec. 14, 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

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

Through the subconscious self, in those who had the gift of releasing it, of allowing its activities, could come, so he believed, communications from the individual consciousnesses which had passed out of the material world.

From Across the Stream by Edward Frederic Benson

Related Words

• alertness
• apprehension
• awareness
• recognition
• sensibility