ENGLISH
REFERENCE

conscious

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //ˈkɑnʃəs// UK //kˈɒnʃəs// con·scious Archaic General-service

adj. awake and able to understand what is happening around you. It can also describe noticing a specific fact, or making a choice on purpose.

adj. awake, alert, and responsive to one's environment. It also describes having awareness of a particular fact, or an action performed deliberately and with intent.


SIMPLE

The patient was fully conscious during the short operation.

CONTEXTUAL

She suddenly became conscious of the fact that everyone in the quiet room was staring at her.

COMPLEX

The author made a conscious effort to avoid academic jargon, ensuring the text remained accessible to a broader audience without sacrificing intellectual rigor.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

First use appears c. 1573 in the sense of "aware of wrongdoing".https://web.archive.org/web/20220714064352/https://www.lexico.com/definition/conscious From Latin cōnscius (“conscious, conscious of guilt”), itself from con- (a form of com- (“together”)) + scīre (“to know”) + -us.

Usage

When meaning 'aware', the adjective typically takes the preposition 'of' followed by a noun phrase or a gerund.

© 2026 English Reference