unconscious

[uhn-kon-shuhs]

adjective

1. not conscious; without awareness, sensation, or cognition.

2. temporarily devoid of consciousness.

3. not perceived at the level of awareness; occurring below the level of conscious thought.

   an unconscious impulse.

4. not consciously realized, planned, or done; without conscious volition or intent.

   an unconscious social slight.

5. not endowed with mental faculties.

   the unconscious stones.

noun

1. Psychoanalysis.,  the unconscious, the part of the mind containing psychic material that is only rarely accessible to awareness but that has a pronounced influence on behavior.

unconscious

/ ʌnˈkɒnʃəs /

adjective

1. lacking normal sensory awareness of the environment; insensible

2. not aware of one's actions, behaviour, etc

   unconscious of his bad manners

3. characterized by lack of awareness or intention

   an unconscious blunder

4. coming from or produced by the unconscious

   unconscious resentment

noun

1. psychoanal the part of the mind containing instincts, impulses, images, and ideas that are not available for direct examination See also collective unconscious Compare subconscious preconscious

unconscious

1. The part of the psyche lying far below consciousness and not easily raised into consciousness. In Freudian psychology, the unconscious cannot be directly observed with the conscious mind, but it has its own processes and deeply affects conscious thought.

Other Word Forms

• unconsciously adverb
• unconsciousness noun
• quasi-unconscious adjective
• self-unconscious adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of unconscious¹

First recorded in 1705–15; 1915–20 unconscious for def. 6; un- ¹ + conscious

Example Sentences

A Demogorgon drags an unconscious Will to Vecna’s lair, and Vecna ominously says they can begin their work “at long last.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"My family found me unconscious on the roadside," she recalls.

Read more on BBC

A man who was knocked unconscious by an electric bike in Newport with the rider appearing to flee only found out what had happened two days later from a neighbour's CCTV.

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At the sight of Autumn unconscious and Ama restrained, I jump out of my chair to help—but I must have moved too quickly.

Read more on Literature

During the 1920s and ’30s, nonlinear narratives of this nature would come to be seen as models of the modern mind: a dark, unknowable place riddled with unconscious desires and perverse complexes.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• innate 
• instinctive 
• latent 
• lost 
• repressed 
• subliminal 
• suppressed