Conscious

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/

Definitions

1. Aware of one's surroundings, thoughts, and sensations, or intentionally aware of something
2. Having an active awareness of what is happening inside oneself or in the surrounding environment
3. Displaying mental recognition or understanding of feelings, experiences, or external stimuli

Etymology: The English adjective "conscious" first appears around 1573 with a sense that sounds almost legal today: "aware of wrongdoing," as in being conscious of guilt. The word's original Latin form, "conscius," carried exactly that meaning, so the English usage was a faithful inheritance rather than a shift. The Latin word is built from three parts: "con-," a form of "com-" meaning "together," joined to "scire," "to know," with the adjective ending "-us." Its literal sense was something like "knowing along with" someone, so to be conscious of a fact was to share knowledge of it with yourself or others. That shared-knowing idea explains why the word could mean both "aware of one's own fault" and, later, the general sense of being mentally awake to one's surroundings.

Synonyms: aware, alert, cognizant, mindful, sentient

Antonyms: unaware, oblivious, insensible, ignorant, unconscious