conscious

English

Etymology

From Latin conscius, itself from con- (a form of com- (“together”) + scire (“to know”) + -us.

Pronunciation

Adjective

conscious (comparative more conscious, superlative most conscious)

  1. Alert, awake.
    The noise woke me, but it was another few minutes before I was fully conscious.
  2. Aware.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
    • 1945 August 17, George Orwell, chapter 6, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:
      Once again the animals were conscious of a vague uneasiness.
    I was conscious of a noise behind me.
  3. Aware of one's own existence; aware of one's own awareness.
    • 1999, Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, Hodder and Stoughton, pages 61–62:
      The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life's challenges when they come.  Through those challenges, an already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious, and a conscious person more intensely conscious.
    Only highly intelligent beings can be fully conscious.

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Noun

conscious (plural consciouses)

  1. The part of the mind that is aware of itself; the consciousness.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.