conscious
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
awake and able to see, hear, and think.
physiologically awake and responsive to stimuli; possessing active mental faculties.
Simple“The patient was fully conscious and able to answer the doctor's questions.”
In context“Although the victim had suffered a significant blow to the head, he remained conscious until the paramedics arrived at the scene.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
noticing or being aware of a particular fact or feeling.
having knowledge or awareness of an external object, state, or fact; often followed by 'of'.
Simple“She was conscious of someone following her down the street.”
In context“The speaker was acutely conscious of the growing tension in the room as he addressed the controversial budget cuts.”
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
done on purpose after thinking about it.
resulting from a deliberate mental choice or intention rather than instinct or habit.
Simple“He made a conscious effort to be more polite to his colleagues.”
In context“The designer made a conscious decision to use only recycled materials, even though it increased the total production cost.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
caring a lot about a specific issue, like the environment or health.
strongly interested in or concerned about a particular subject; frequently used in compounds like 'fashion-conscious'.
Simple“Many young people are very environmentally conscious these days.”
In context“The brand targets health-conscious consumers who are willing to pay a premium for organic, sugar-free alternatives.”
conscious vs conscience — Conscious is the state of being awake or aware; conscience is the internal moral compass that judges right from wrong.
“Jacques was also conscious his own experience could only take him so far.”
“We have super strengths and we have other areas we need to be very conscious [of] because we don’t have the elements or the structure that other clubs have.”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.