What does consciousness mean?

Definitions for consciousness
ˈkɒn ʃəs nɪscon·scious·ness

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word consciousness.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. consciousnessnoun

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

    "he lost consciousness"

  2. awareness, consciousness, cognizance, cognisance, knowingnessnoun

    having knowledge of

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

Wiktionary

  1. consciousnessnoun

    The state of being conscious or aware; awareness.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Consciousnessnoun

    1.The perception of what passes in a man’s own mind. John Locke

    Etymology: from conscious.

    If spirit be without thinking, I have no idea of any thing left; therefore consciousness must be its essential attribute. Isaac Watts.

    Such ideas, no doubt, they would have had, had not their consciousness to themselves, of their ignorance of them, kept them from so idle an attempt. John Locke.

    No man doubts of a Supreme Being, until, from the consciousness of his provocations, it become his interest there should be none. Government of the Tongue, s. 3.

    An honest mind is not in the power of a dishonest: to break its peace, there must be some guilt or consciousness. Alexander Pope.

Wikipedia

  1. Consciousness

    Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguists, and scientists. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied or even considered consciousness. In some explanations, it is synonymous with the mind, and at other times, an aspect of mind. In the past, it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection, of private thought, imagination and volition. Today, it often includes any kind of cognition, experience, feeling or perception. It may be awareness, awareness of awareness, or self-awareness either continuously changing or not. The disparate range of research, notions and speculations raises a curiosity about whether the right questions are being asked.Examples of the range of descriptions, definitions or explanations are: simple wakefulness, one's sense of selfhood or soul explored by "looking within"; being a metaphorical "stream" of contents, or being a mental state, mental event or mental process of the brain.

ChatGPT

  1. consciousness

    Consciousness is the state of being aware of and being able to think and perceive one's surroundings, thoughts, and feelings. It is often seen as a complex mental state that involves an individual's ability to experience and interpret the world around them through sensory experiences and cognitive processes. Consciousness can allow for reflection on one's self and others, and on abstract concepts, which can lead to high levels of understanding and learning. It is important to note that concepts of consciousness can vary greatly across different cultures, philosophies, and scientific disciplines.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Consciousnessnoun

    the state of being conscious; knowledge of one's own existence, condition, sensations, mental operations, acts, etc

  2. Consciousnessnoun

    immediate knowledge or perception of the presence of any object, state, or sensation. See the Note under Attention

  3. Consciousnessnoun

    feeling, persuasion, or expectation; esp., inward sense of guilt or innocence

Wikidata

  1. Consciousness

    Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. It has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. Despite the difficulty in definition, many philosophers believe that there is a broadly shared underlying intuition about what consciousness is. As Max Velmans and Susan Schneider wrote in The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness: "Anything that we are aware of at a given moment forms part of our consciousness, making conscious experience at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives." Philosophers since the time of Descartes and Locke have struggled to comprehend the nature of consciousness and pin down its essential properties. Issues of concern in the philosophy of consciousness include whether the concept is fundamentally valid; whether consciousness can ever be explained mechanistically; whether non-human consciousness exists and if so how it can be recognized; how consciousness relates to language; whether consciousness can be understood in a way that does not require a dualistic distinction between mental and physical states or properties; and whether it may ever be possible for computers or robots to be conscious.

The Roycroft Dictionary

  1. consciousness

    A state wherein one becomes aware that he is being robbed, swindled or duped, by either a natural or an artificial law. Aside from his periods of sleep it may be said that man is always in a state of consciousness when voting, making love, or when succumbing to any other form of hypnotic suggestion.

U.S. National Library of Medicine

  1. Consciousness

    Sense of awareness of self and of the environment.

Editors Contribution

  1. consciousness

    A form of personal and collective ability, animals, awareness, beings, beliefs, change, color, conscience, data, emotion, expression, energy, evolution, facts, feeling, frequency, human beings, information, intelligence, knowing, knowledge, life, light, love, memory, minds, people, perceptions, perspectives, proof, souls, spirit, structures, subconscious, systems, thoughts, truth,understanding, unity and wisdom.

    Consciousness is the collective sum of data that flows and moves throughout the energy fields of planet earth and beyond. We all have a cause and effect on each other through the interaction of the consciousness.


    Submitted by MaryC on April 6, 2020  


  2. consciousness

    An animal or persons awareness, feeling, knowing, understanding, recognition, intelligence, knowledge, experience or perception of life and reality.

    Animal and human consciousness is very important in life.


    Submitted by MaryC on December 21, 2019  


  3. consciousness

    The feeling and knowing of being aware of and responsive to data, energy, thought, love, light, frequency, change, people, animals and life.

    The human consciousness is eternal and infinite and is a miracles in itself.


    Submitted by MaryC on December 21, 2019  


  4. consciousness

    The feeling and knowing of being conscious, aware, experience and knowledge of existence, thought, feeling, knowing, senses and life.

    Consciousness of a human being is very important as it is our awareness of what we live, experience and have knowledge of.


    Submitted by MaryC on December 21, 2019  

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'consciousness' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3633

  2. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'consciousness' in Nouns Frequency: #1524

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce consciousness?

How to say consciousness in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of consciousness in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of consciousness in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of consciousness in a Sentence

  1. Pete Hegseth:

    It's about the flag and about freedom and about faith and families, we're planting a flag right where it should be which is right in the middle of the American consciousness, not anywhere far-right at all. ‘America First’ is simple in its building blocks and CPAC does a great job of bringing those people together.

  2. Franz Xavier Kroetz:

    Language exists only on the surface of our consciousness. The great human struggles are played out in silence and in the ability to express oneself.

  3. Gordana Biernat:

    You experience your true SELF every time you act through LOVE. LOVE always expands your CONSCIOUSNESS.

  4. Albert Einstein:

    No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

  5. Laird Wilcox:

    I would say now 80 percent of the events that happen on campus are hoaxes or pranks. it’s a place where consciousness of discrimination, sexism and homophobia is at a peak, and when there’s nothing happening, and they need something to happen, they can make it happen.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

consciousness#1#7686#10000

Translations for consciousness

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for consciousness »

Translation

Find a translation for the consciousness definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"consciousness." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/consciousness>.

Discuss these consciousness definitions with the community:

1 Comment
  • Chandrasekhar Krishnamurthy
    Chandrasekhar Krishnamurthy
    Really exhaustive
    LikeReply6 years ago

Are we missing a good definition for consciousness? Don't keep it to yourself...

Image or illustration of

consciousness

Credit »

Free, no signup required:

Add to Chrome

Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

Free, no signup required:

Add to Firefox

Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

Quiz

Are you a words master?

»
diverge from the expected
A knead
B fluster
C aberrate
D huff

Nearby & related entries:

Alternative searches for consciousness: