the state of understanding and realizing something
Her consciousness that she's different makes her feel uneasy.
Oxford Essential Dictionary
consciousness
noun (no plural)
the state of being able to see, hear, feel and think:
As she fell, she hit her head and lost consciousness.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
consciousness
con‧scious‧ness W3 /ˈkɒnʃəsnəs, ˈkɒnʃəsnɪs $ ˈkɑːn-/ BrE AmE noun
[Word Family: noun: ↑subconscious, ↑unconscious, ↑consciousness, ↑unconsciousness; adverb: ↑subconsciously, ↑consciously ≠ ↑unconsciously; adjective: ↑conscious ≠ ↑unconscious, ↑subconscious]
1. [uncountable] the condition of being awake and able to understand what is happening around you:
David lost consciousness (=went into a deep sleep) at eight o'clock and died a few hours later.
She could faintly hear voices as she began to regain consciousness (=wake up).
2. [uncountable and countable] your mind and your thoughts:
The painful memories eventually faded from her consciousness.
Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.
research into human consciousness
3. [countable] someone’s ideas, feelings, or opinions about politics, life etc:
The experience helped to change her political consciousness.
4. [uncountable] when you know that something exists or is true SYN awareness:
This will increase public consciousness of the pollution issue.
⇨ ↑stream of consciousness
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ lose consciousness (=go into a type of deep sleep that is not normal) As she fell, she hit her head and lost consciousness for several minutes.
▪ regain/recover consciousness (=wake up) I wanted to stay at the hospital until he regained consciousness.
▪ return to consciousness When I returned to consciousness, my head was throbbing with pain.
▪ bring somebody back to consciousness The doctors were unable to bring her back to consciousness.
▪ drift in and out of consciousness (=be awake and then not awake, and then awake again, etc) He had a high temperature and was drifting in and out of consciousness.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
consciousness
con·scious·ness [consciousness] [ˈkɒnʃəsnəs] [ˈkɑːnʃəsnəs] noun uncountable
1. the state of being able to use your senses and mental powers to understand what is happening
• I can't remember any more— I must have lost consciousness.
• She did not regain consciousness and died the next day.
2. the state of being aware of sth
Syn: awareness
• his consciousness of the challenge facing him
• class-consciousness (= consciousness of different classes in society)
3. the ideas and opinions of a person or group
• her newly-developed political consciousness
• issues affecting the popular consciousness of the time
see also stream of consciousness
Example Bank:
• He claims that it's a form of false consciousness for working people to vote.
• Hip-hop exploded into popular consciousness at the same time as the music video.
• I left the room with full consciousness of the impression I would make.
• In some cultures shamans use drugs to alter consciousness.
• Our role as educators is to develop a critical consciousness among our students.
• She hit her head on a rock and lost consciousness.
• She sees racism as a form of false consciousness, where a society collectively believes untrue things about other races.
• The cold water brought me back to full consciousness.
• The idea firmly lodged itself in the public consciousness.
• The words slowly entered her consciousness.
• These memories became an important component of Polish historical consciousness.
• They have succeeded in raising consciousness on many issues.
• When she regained consciousness she was in a hospital bed.
• a book that has changed cultural consciousness in the US
• a change that altered our collective consciousness forever
• a decline in civic consciousness and a growing indifference to public affairs
• a growing consciousness of environmental issues among children
• a key position in feminist consciousness
• a new consciousness about the health consequences of pesticides
• a new political consciousness among young people
• a sense of ethnic consciousness among Lithuanian Americans
• an altered state of consciousness
• imagery that has entered the national consciousness through the media
• powerful states of cosmic consciousness
• the modern study of animal consciousness
• the practices that are used by yogis to reach divine consciousness
• to aspire to a higher consciousness
• Her consciousness of the challenge that faced her did not put her off.
• In popular consciousness he will always be a hero.
• The memory remained deep in his consciousness.
• There has always been a strong social consciousness in the city.
• We need to raise people's consciousness of environmental issues.
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
consciousness / ˈkɒn.ʃəs.nəs / / ˈkɑːn- / noun [ U ] (UNDERSTANDING)
C1 the state of understanding and realizing something:
[ + that ] Her consciousness that she's different makes her feel uneasy.
Working in an unemployment office had helped to raise his political consciousness.
Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
consciousness
[kɒ̱nʃəsnəs]
♦♦♦
consciousnesses
1) N-COUNT: usu sing, usu poss N Your consciousness is your mind and your thoughts.
That idea has been creeping into our consciousness for some time.
Syn:
awareness
2) N-UNCOUNT: with supp The consciousness of a group of people is their set of ideas, attitudes, and beliefs.
The Greens were the catalysts of a necessary change in the European consciousness.
Syn:
awareness
3) N-UNCOUNT: supp N You use consciousness to refer to an interest in and knowledge of a particular subject or idea.
Her political consciousness sprang from her upbringing when her father's illness left the family short of money.
Syn:
awareness
4) N-UNCOUNT Consciousness is the state of being awake rather than being asleep or unconscious. If someone loses consciousness, they become unconscious, and if they regain consciousness, they become conscious after being unconscious.
She banged her head and lost consciousness...
He drifted in and out of consciousness.
5) → See also stream of consciousness
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
consciousness
con·scious·ness /ˈkɑːnʃəsnəs/ noun, pl -ness·es
1 [noncount] : the condition of being conscious : the normal state of being awake and able to understand what is happening around you
• She experienced a brief loss of consciousness. = She lost consciousness [=became unconscious] briefly.
• He slowly regained consciousness [=became conscious again; woke up] after the surgery.
2 a : a person's mind and thoughts
[count]
- usually singular
• The realization first entered my consciousness when I was a young child.
• The memory was forever etched in her consciousness.
[noncount]
• The medication caused her to enter an altered state of consciousness.
- see also stream of consciousness
b [noncount] : knowledge that is shared by a group of people
• The events have become part of the national consciousness.
• a crisis that has faded from the public consciousness [=that the public no longer remembers or thinks about]
3 : awareness or knowledge of something specified
[count]
- usually singular
• a magazine that aims to raise the political consciousness of teenagers [=to make teenagers more aware of political issues]
• I was impressed by his consciousness of our situation.
• She developed a strong social consciousness. [=she became aware of important social issues]
[noncount]
• He hopes that he can raise public consciousness of the disease.