Standard Lemma guide

consciousness

noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɒnʃəsnəs/
  • Atlantic-Canada, General-American: /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, dialectal: /ˈkɒnʃəsnəs/ of the US
  • Australian: /ˈkɔnʃəsnəs/
  • New-Zealand: [ˈkɔ̟nʃəsnəs]
  • CMU ARPABET: K AA1 N SH AH0 S N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of being conscious or aware; awareness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The state of being conscious or aware; awareness.

The state or trait of having cognition and sensation; cognition and sensation themselves.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • To lose consciousness after striking one's head

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The state of being conscious or aware; awareness.

The fact of having knowledge of a particular fact or matter; cognizance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The state of being conscious or aware; awareness.

Acute awareness (of something) and belief in its communal relevance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: government, politics

Examples

  • the development of a feminist consciousness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A being with cognition.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he lost consciousness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: unconsciousness

Broader terms: cognitive state, state of mind

Narrower terms: stream of consciousness, self, ego, awareness, sentience, sensibility, esthesia, aesthesia, waking

7

noun

Meaning 7

having knowledge of

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he had no awareness of his mistakes
  • his sudden consciousness of the problem he faced
  • their intelligence and general knowingness was impressive

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: awareness, cognizance, cognisance, knowingness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: knowing

Narrower terms: self-awareness, feel, sense

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English conscious Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English consciousness From conscious + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

123 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Ainu: エコンラム (ekonramu) — awareness
  • Albanian: vetëdijë — awareness
  • Southern Altai: санаа (sanaa) — awareness
  • Arabic: وَعْي (waʕy) — awareness
  • Arabic: شُعُور (šuʕūr) — awareness
  • Armenian: գիտակցություն (gitakcʻutʻyun) — awareness
  • Azerbaijani: şüur — awareness
  • Azerbaijani: anlaq — awareness
  • Bashkir: аң (añ) — awareness
  • Belarusian: свядо́масць (svjadómascʹ) — awareness
  • Belarusian: сьвядо́масьць (sʹvjadómasʹcʹ) — awareness
  • Belarusian: прыто́мнасць (prytómnascʹ) — awareness
  • Belarusian: прыто́мнасьць (prytómnasʹcʹ) — awareness
  • Bengali: চেতনা (cetona) — awareness
  • Central Bikol: agimadmad — awareness
  • Bulgarian: съзна́ние (sǎznánie) — awareness
  • Bulgarian: съзна́телност (sǎznátelnost) — awareness
  • Burmese: စိတ် (cit) — awareness
  • Burmese: ဝိညာဉ် (wi.nyany) — awareness
  • Burmese: သတိ (sa.ti.) — awareness
  • Catalan: consciència — awareness
  • Chinese Cantonese: 意識 /意识 (ji3 sik1) — awareness
  • Chinese: 意識 /意识 (zh-min-nan) — awareness
  • Chinese Mandarin: 意識 /意识 (yìshí) — awareness
  • Czech: vědomí — awareness
  • Czech: uvědomění — awareness
  • Danish: bevidsthed — awareness
  • Dutch: bewustzijn — awareness
  • Esperanto: konscio — awareness
  • Estonian: teadvus — awareness
  • Finnish: tajunta — awareness
  • Finnish: tietoisuus — awareness
  • Finnish: taju — awareness
  • French: conscience — awareness
  • Galician: consciencia — awareness
  • Georgian: ცნობიერება (cnobiereba) — awareness
  • German: Bewusstsein — awareness
  • German: Gewahrsein — awareness
  • German: Erkenntnis — awareness
  • German: Bewusstheit — awareness
  • German: Wahrnehmung — awareness
  • Greek: συνείδηση (syneídisi) — awareness
  • Hebrew: מוּדָעוּת (muda'út) — awareness
  • Hindi: चेतना (cetnā) — awareness
  • Hindi: होश (hoś) — awareness
  • Hungarian: tudatosság — awareness
  • Hungarian: tudat — awareness
  • Hungarian: eszmélet — awareness
  • Icelandic: meðvitund — awareness
  • Indonesian: kesadaran — awareness
  • Irish: comhfhios — awareness
  • Italian: conoscenza — awareness
  • Italian: coscienza — awareness
  • Japanese: 意識 (ishiki) — awareness
  • Japanese: 人心地 (hitogokochi) — awareness
  • Kazakh: сана (sana) — awareness
  • Khmer: ញាណ (ñiən) — awareness
  • Khmer: មនសិការ (mĕəʼnĕəʼsekaa) — awareness
  • Korean: 의식 (uisik) — awareness
  • Korean: 자각 (jagak) — awareness
  • Kyrgyz: сезүү (sezüü) — awareness
  • Lao: ສະຕິ (sa ti) — awareness
  • Latin: cōnsciēntia — awareness
  • Latvian: samaņa — awareness
  • Latvian: apziņa — awareness
  • Lithuanian: sąmonė — awareness
  • Macedonian: свест (svest) — awareness
  • Malay: kesedaran — awareness
  • Manx: co-yssaght — awareness
  • Mongolian: ухамсар (uxamsar) — awareness
  • Mongolian: ухаан (uxaan) — awareness
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bevissthet — awareness
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: medvit — awareness
  • Occitan: consciéncia — awareness
  • Pashto: شعور (šo'úr) — awareness
  • Iranian Persian: خودْآگاهی (xud'âgâhi) — awareness
  • Iranian Persian: آگاهی (âgâhi) — awareness
  • Iranian Persian: شُعور (šo'ur) — awareness
  • Iranian Persian: هوش (huš) — awareness
  • Polish: przytomność — awareness
  • Polish: świadomość — awareness
  • Portuguese: consciência — awareness
  • Punjabi: ਚੇਤਨਾ (cetnā) — awareness
  • Romanian: conștiință — awareness
  • Russian: созна́ние (soznánije) — awareness
  • Russian: созна́тельность (soznátelʹnostʹ) — awareness
  • Sanskrit: चेतना (cetanā) — awareness
  • Sanskrit: चेतस् (cetas) — awareness
  • Serbo-Croatian: све̑ст — awareness
  • Serbo-Croatian: свије̑ст — awareness
  • Serbo-Croatian: svȇst — awareness
  • Serbo-Croatian: svijȇst — awareness
  • Slovak: vedomie — awareness
  • Slovene: zavest — awareness
  • Spanish: conciencia — awareness
  • Swedish: medvetande — awareness
  • Tagalog: malay — awareness
  • Tagalog: ulirat — awareness
  • Tajik: шуур (šuur) — awareness
  • Tajik: ҳуш (huš) — awareness
  • Tajik: огоҳи (ogoh-i) — awareness
  • Tatar: аң (añ) — awareness
  • Tatar: һуш (huş) — awareness
  • Telugu: చేతనము (cētanamu) — awareness
  • Thai: สติ (sà-dtì) — awareness
  • Thai: ความรู้สึกตัว — awareness
  • Thai: ความตื่นรู้ — awareness
  • Tocharian B: īme — awareness
  • Turkish: bilinç — awareness
  • Turkish: şuur — awareness
  • Ottoman Turkish: شعور (şuûr) — awareness
  • Ottoman Turkish: هوش (huş) — awareness
  • Ottoman Turkish: ادراك (idrak) — awareness
  • Turkmen: aň — awareness
  • Ukrainian: свідо́мість (svidómistʹ) — awareness
  • Ukrainian: прито́мність (prytómnistʹ) — awareness
  • Urdu: شُعُور (śu'ūr) — awareness
  • Urdu: ہوش (hoś) — awareness
  • Uyghur: ئاڭ (ang) — awareness
  • Uzbek: shuur — awareness
  • Uzbek: ong — awareness
  • Vietnamese: ý thức — awareness
  • Zhuang: yisiz — awareness
Real reading context

consciousness in complete knowledge articles