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Webster 1913 Edition


Conscious

Con′scious

,
Adj.
[L.
conscius
;
con-
+
scire
to know. See
Conscience
.]
1.
Possessing the faculty of knowing one’s own thoughts or mental operations.
Some are thinking or
conscious
beings, or have a power of thought.
I. Watts.
2.
Possessing knowledge, whether by internal, conscious experience or by external observation; cognizant; aware; sensible.
Her
conscious
heart imputed suspicion where none could have been felt.
Hawthorne.
The man who breathes most healthilly is least
conscious
of his own breathing.
De Quincey.
3.
Made the object of consciousness; known to one's self;
as,
conscious
guilt
.
Syn. – Aware; apprised; sensible; felt; known.

Webster 1828 Edition


Conscious

CONSCIOUS

,
Adj.
[L.]
1.
Possessing the faculty or power of knowing ones own thoughts or mental operations. Thus, man is a conscious being.
2.
Knowing from memory, or without extraneous information; as, I am not conscious of the fact.
The damsel than to Tancred sent, who, conscious of the occasion, feared the event.
3.
Knowing by conscience, or internal perception or persuasion; as, I am not conscious of having given any offense. Sometimes followed by to; as, I am not conscious to myself.
Aeneas only, conscious to the sign, presaged the event. So we say, conscious of innocence, or of ignorance, or of a crime.

Definition 2024


conscious

conscious

English

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.
    • 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

Related terms

Translations

Noun

conscious (plural consciouses)

  1. The part of the mind that is aware of itself; the consciousness.