# conscious

Pronunciation: say "KON-shuhs" US /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, UK /ˈkɒn.ʃəs/

## Adjective

1. Awake and alert, with one's mental faculties active.
   - Simple: Awake and able to think, see, and react.
   - _He remained conscious despite the blow to his head._
   - _Doctors checked whether the injured driver was fully conscious._
2. Aware of and sensitive to something, often with strong interest in or concern about it.
   - Simple: Noticing something and caring about it.
   - _He grew increasingly conscious of the environmental cost of his daily choices._
   - _Voters are more conscious of climate issues than they were a decade ago._
3. Involving a purposeful choice and full awareness of one's actions.
   - Simple: Done on purpose, with full awareness of what you are doing.
   - _Switching careers was a conscious decision, not an accident._
   - _They put conscious thought into every line of the design._
4. Having a sense of one's own existence, including the ability to notice one's own state of awareness.
   - Simple: Knowing that you exist and that you are thinking.
   - _Philosophers ask at what point a creature becomes truly conscious of itself._
   - _We are conscious beings who can reflect on our own minds._
5. Known or felt inwardly by a person; experienced personally and privately.
   - Simple: Felt deep inside a person, where no one else can see it.
   - _She carried a conscious satisfaction known only to herself._
   - _A conscious dread settled in him, felt within but never spoken aloud._

## Noun

6. The part of the mind that is aware of itself; the waking, self-aware portion of mental life.
   - Simple: The part of the mind that knows what is happening and is aware of itself.
   - _In his model, the conscious holds only what we are currently aware of._
   - _Dreams may let hidden material slip past the conscious._

## Adjective

7. Feeling guilty or self-conscious through awareness of one's own wrongdoing. *(rare)*
   - Simple: Feeling guilty because you know you did something wrong.
   - _The thief stood conscious before the judge, unable to hide his guilt._
   - _A conscious blush spread across her face as the lie was uncovered._

## Origin

First recorded in the late 16th century in the sense 'aware of wrongdoing', from Latin cōnscius ('conscious, conscious of guilt'), which comes from con- (a form of com-, 'together') plus scīre ('to know').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/conscious (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).