Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Consciousness

Definition: Consciousness

Consciousness

Noun

1. An alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation; "he lost consciousness".

2. 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".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "consciousness" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Note: Consciousness \Con"scious*ness\, noun. . (references)

 

Specialty Definition: Consciousness

DomainDefinition

Health

Sense of awareness of self and of the environment. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Specialty Definition: Consciousness

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The term consciousness has several different meanings.

In colloquial language, it denotes being awake and responsive to one's environment; what some call reactivity. This might contrast to being asleep or being in a coma.

Philosophers distinguish between phenomenal consciousness and psychological consciousness.

Phenomenal consciousness

There is, on the view of very many philosophers, one mental function that accompanies some, or perhaps all, mental events, namely, consciousness. In a philosophical context, the word "consciousness" means something like awareness, or the fact that the mind is as it were directed at something or other. (That sounds more like a definition of that philosophical term "intentionality" often laymanified as "aboutness".) So when we perceive, we are conscious of what we perceive; when we introspect, we are conscious of our thoughts; when we remember, we are conscious of something that happened in the past, or of some piece of information that we learned; and so on.

In this philosophical sense of the word "conscious", we are conscious even when we are dreaming; we are conscious of what's happening in the dream. But sleep researchers believe there is a sleep stage that happens, called "deep sleep", in which apparently we are not conscious of anything in any sense. No mental processes that involve consciousness in an ordinary or in a philosophical sense are going on. So deep dreamless sleep is an instance in which one is alive and one's brain is functioning, but there are no mental events occurring in which there is any element of consciousness.

Modern discoveries on consciousness are based on study of consciousness states and the deficits caused by lesions, stroke, injury, or surgery that disrupt the normal functioning of our senses and cognitions. These discoveries suggest that the mind is a complex structure of various localized functions held together by a unitary awareness.

There has been some debate about the following question: Must one be conscious, in the philosophical sense, whenever a mental event occurs? For example, is it possible to have a pain that one does not feel? Some people think not; they think that in order for something to be a pain, one has to feel it or be aware of it. Similarly, if anything is a thought, then one has to be aware of that of which one is thinking (indeed, that seems nearly a tautology); if there is no consciousness, no awareness, of anything at all, then one is not thinking. Philosophers ask: Do mental events necessarily involve consciousness?

Suppose we answer "No." Then of course what we'd be saying is that there are some mental events that do not include an element of consciousness. These events are going on even though we aren't aware of them. In other words, part of the mind is unconscious. Cognitive scientists believe that many cognitive processes are unconscious in this manner; we are aware of only some of the stuff that's going on in our minds. Some may even view consciousness as an emergent phenomenon, somehow arising from a hierarchy of unconscious processes. These are fairly recent views, made popular only after Freud.

The complementarity of consciousness has parallels with the nature of quantum theory. This has prompted quantum models of consciousness.

Psychological consciousness

Psychological consciousness refers to a closely interrelated set of features. Julian Jaynes lists these features as:

1. spatialization - having an internal mental 'space' in which hypothetical events can 'happen'. It is impossible to think of any events occurring in time without spatializing them, usually on a timeline running from left to right. People who are not conscious (eg, in a hypnotic state) are incapable of thinking about time or putting things in a time-ordered sequence.

2. analog I - being able to see 'in' one's spatialized mind what one would 'see' if one were in a certain situation. For example, if a person comes to a fork while walking through a forest, they can 'see' 'in' their mind what they would through their eyes if they took either of the paths. It's based on this information that they can decide to take one path (perhaps more scenic) over the other.

3. analog Me - the 'I' is the subject performing actions, through whose eyes we 'see'. The 'Me' is an object 'seen' in its entirety. The 'I' is the first-person view in computer games while the 'Me' is the third-person view, behind the main character. One can often 'see' oneself performing actions 'in one's mind' as if one were 'outside' of one's own body.

4. excerption - the taking of a small aspect of something to stand for that whole thing. No one thinks of their city by imagining every house, every streetcorner and every sewer. One takes something, perhaps the skyline or city hall, and lets it stand for the whole thing. The same occurs for everything. Recalling one excerption after another by a chain of associations is what constitutes 'reminiscence'.

5. conciliation - something similar to assimilation of knowledge to fit a schema but done 'in' a conscious mind.

6. narratization - the constant unnoticed activity of thinking of one's life in terms of stories, in which one is the star character.

See also:

Consciousness is generally regarded as comprising abilities such as self-awareness and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. A thing that is conscious uses the term "I" to refer to itself. So far, the only beings believed to be conscious are human beings.

Human consciousness is generally regarded by most people as an self-evident directly perceived entity. However, consiciousness has been a great problem for scientists and philosophers.

In particular, philosophers have asked "how do we know we are conscious?" and "how do we know other people are conscious?". It turns out that these are difficult questions, both to formulate accurately, and to answer.

One question is to what extent other primates, whales and dolphins, or grey parrots have consciousness. These issues are of great interest and controversy not only to scientists, but also to animal rights lawyers.

In the past the origin of consciousness was looked for in a soul separate of the body. This idea developed in many cultures. Some of these conceptions were first developed in ancient Greece, and later adapted to Christian ideas.

Today human consciousness is understood by many scientists as a function of the brain. This realization is based on the observation the fact that consciousness can be affected through chemical substances working in the brain and that often mental disorders cause changes in consciousness. Human behavior is affected by conscious and unconscious processes (assumed to be displaced consciousness contents and instincts), whereby the dividing line is to be drawn with difficulty.

Experimental psychology and developmental psychology, which are concerned with the learning behavior of infants (e.g. Elizabeth Spelke, Stephen Pinker), point to an early developing consciousness.

Usually most consciousness awareness is lost during sleep. However, some people can activate this awareness by using lucid dreaming techniques.

Consciousness and language

Because of the fact that humans can express themselves by language, unlike all other animals, it is tempting to equate language abilities and consciousness. There are however speechless humans (infants, Kaspar Hauser, accident victims), to who consciousness is attributed despite language lost or not yet acquired. Also consciousness does not change by the acquisition of a new language. Consciousness is therefore one of the conditions for the language acquisition; missing language ability is however no reference to missing consciousness.

Here a distinction must be made between language abilities and language authority: language authority is for example present with mute ones quite (see bearing language). Language is the substantial means of humans to give expression to the experience of consciousness. Other forms are artistic, such as music, dance, painting and sculpture.

Consciousness and chemistry

Consciousness-changing chemicals human consciousness can be affected by medicines. Sleeping drugs (e.g. Midazolam = Dormicum) are used, in order to bring the brain from the awake condition (conscious) to the sleep (unconscious). Wake-up drugs (e.g. Anexate) reverse this process. Many other drugs (such as heroin, cocaine, LSD, MDMA) have a consciousness-changing effect.

It is generally believed that general anaesthetics work by suppressing consciouness.

Modern brain research assumes that consciousness expires at brain death.

Consciousness and memory

Consciousness is closely connected with the ability of memory, since even after temporary consciousness loss the identity of the individual remains.

Further reading

Top     

Synonyms: Consciousness

Synonyms: awareness (n), cognizance (n), knowingness (n). (additional references)
Antonym: unconsciousness (n). (additional references)

Top     

Synonyms within Context: Consciousness

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Intellect

Soul, spirit, ghost, inner man, heart, breast, bosom, penetralia mentis, divina particula aurae, heart's core; the Absolute, psyche, subliminal consciousness, supreme principle.

Noun: intellect, mind, understanding, reason, thinking principle; rationality; cogitative faculties, cognitive faculties, discursive faculties, reasoning faculties, intellectual faculties; faculties, senses, consciousness, observation, percipience, intelligence, intellection, intuition, association of ideas, instinct, conception, judgment, wits, parts, capacity, intellectuality, genius; brains, cognitive powers, intellectual powers; wit; ability; (skill); wisdom; Vernunft, Verstand.

Knowledge

Noun: knowledge; cognizance, cognition, cognoscence; acquaintance, experience, ken, privity, insight, familiarity; comprehension, apprehension; recognition; appreciation; (judgment); intuition; conscience, consciousness; perception, precognition; acroamatics.

Physical Sensibility

Sensation, impression; consciousness. (knowledge).

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Top     

Crosswords: Consciousness

English words defined with "consciousness": absence, Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, anaesthesia, analgesia, anesthesia, animate, animatism, apoplexy, Associated movements, awarenessblack out, blackout, brain death, bring around, bring back, bring round, bring tocerebral death, cerebrovascular accident, cognizance, concussion, CVAdissociative disorderego, epilepsy, epileptic seizurefaint, Fainting, fuguegeneral anaesthetic, general anesthetic, generalized epilepsy, grand mal epilepsy, grogginess, Guilt-sickHare Krishna, Heterophemy, highimportant, insensate, insentience, insentientJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce, James Joyce, Joyceknowingnesslight, light-headedmodnirvana, nonconsciousonomatomaniapass out, Personal identity, petit mal epilepsy, Preconscious, psychomotor epilepsy, psychotropic agentrealisation, realization, recognition, register, repress, resuscitate, resuscitated, resuscitation, revive, revivedself, Self-abased, Self-convicted, Self-reproving, semiconsciousness, sentience, sentient, sleep, sleeping, slumber, status epilepticus, stroke, stupefaction, stupor, subconscious, subconsciousness, suppress, suspended animation, swoon, swooning, syncopetemporal lobe epilepsy, The inner, To bring to, trance, twilight sleepVirginia Woolf, Vital forcewaking, Woolfzonk out. (references)
Specialty definitions using "consciousness": Alfentanil, Analgesia, Epidural, Analgesia, Obstetrical, Analgesia, Patient-Controlled, Analgesics, Anesthesia Recovery Period, Anti-Anxiety Agentsdiminished responsibility, Dissociative Disorders, DreamsEpilepsy, Partial, Sensory, epilepticusgas 'emHepatic EncephalopathyNeuroleptanalgesia, Nose, Nunc Stans, NURSE ANESTHETISTObermann, obtundation, oxygen paradoxposthypoxia paradox, psychotropic drug, Putaminal Hemorrhagerespond, Russell's paradoxsensory inflow, Sleep Paralysis, Syncope, VasovagaltailWitness of the Spirit. (references)

Top     

Modern Usage: Consciousness

DomainUsage

Screenplays

Because consciousness is a terrible curse (Being John Malkovich; writing credit: Charlie Kaufman)

The downside of coming off junk was I knew I would need to mix with my friends again in a state of full consciousness. It was awful (Trainspotting; writing credit: Irvine Welsh; John Hodge)

Raise their consciousness or get the money (High Heels and Low Lifes; writing credit: Kim Fuller; Georgia Pritchett)

Lyrics

We're separating, consciousness is fading (Where's The Love; performing artist: Hanson)

Song Titles

Stream of Consciousness Blues (performing artist: Steven Brust)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Commercial Usage: Consciousness

DomainTitle

Books

  • Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations With the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism (reference)

  • Creating Affluence: Wealth Consciousness in the Field of All Possibilities/Cassette (reference)

  • The Mirage and the Mirror: Thoughts on the Nature of Anomalies in Consciousness (reference)

  • Africans in Colonial Mexico: Absolutism, Christianity, and Afro-Creole Consciousness, 1570-1640 (Blacks in the Diaspora) (reference)

  • Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  • Fractal Evolution - The Biology of Consciousness (reference)

  • Tolle Eckhart: The Flowering Of Human Consciousness - Everyone's Life (reference)

    (more DVD examples; more video examples)

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Photo Album: Consciousness

ThumbnailDescription & Credit

William James : Investigator of the Subliminal Consciousness / P. Credit: National Library of Medicine; photo by Notman..

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Top     

Familiar Quotations: Consciousness

AuthorQuotation

Andrew Carnegie

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

Aristotle

Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.

E. M. Cioran

Consciousness is much more than the thorn, it is the dagger in the flesh.

Emily Dickinson

Of Consciousness, her awful Mate. The Soul cannot be rid -- as easy the secreting her behind the Eyes of God.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Remorse sleeps during prosperity but awakes bitter consciousness during adversity.

Karl Marx

Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity.

Marquis De Vauvenargues

You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.

Norman Mailer

The final purpose of art is to intensify, even, if necessary, to exacerbate, the moral consciousness of people.

William Hazlitt

Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top     

Historic Usage: Consciousness

AuthorDateQuotation

Communist Manifesto

1848

No wonder, then, that the social consciousness of past ages, despite all the multiplicity and variety it displays, moves within certain common forms, or general ideas, which cannot completely vanish except with the total disappearance of class antagonisms. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top     

Use in Literature: Consciousness

TitleAuthorQuote

Emma

Austen, Jane

She had hardly been able to speak a word, and every look and action had shewn how deeply she was suffering from consciousness.

Life, the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams

Arthur's consciousness approached his body as from a great distance, and reluctantly

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

She had her consciousness to the last

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

Consciousness of place came ebbing back to him slowly over a vast tract of time unlit, unfelt, unlived

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top     

Non-Fiction Usage: Consciousness

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

Another seizure starts before the person regains consciousness. (references)

His or her consciousness may be altered, producing a dreamlike experience. (references)

With successive inhalations, abusers can suffer loss of consciousness and death. (references)

Business

A reflection of the Swiss environmental consciousness is the so-called "green energy" or renewable energy. (references)

Foreign manufacturers should take into account the average Argentine consumer’s fashion consciousness and should offer their products adapted to local end-users preferences and styles. (references)

Children

Dominican Republic

However, there is little consciousness of the need to make the daily lives of persons with disabilities safer and more convenient. (references)

Civil Liberties

Bangladesh

However, although the Government is secular, religion exerts a powerful influence on politics, and the Government is sensitive to the Muslim consciousness of the majority of its citizens. (references)

Belarus

In February the B-TR aired a documentary entitled "Dushekhvaty" (Soul Snatchers), which alleged that Catholic communities were eroding citizens' national-religious consciousness by urging them to deny the faith of their ancestors. (references)

Economic History

Iceland

In the early 19th century, national consciousness revived in Iceland. (references)

Peru

This national network has been very active in increasing consciousness about the importance of girls' education in Peru. (references)

Dominica

Following World War I, an upsurge of political consciousness throughout the Caribbean led to the formation of the representative government association. (references)

Human Rights

Morocco

Najiaji later fell down, lost consciousness, and stopped breathing, at which time the security forces released the second person. (references)

Burma

According to SHRF, in early May, community leaders in Murng-ton were detained, then beaten and tortured, including by electric shocks, until they lost consciousness. (references)

Czech Republic

In July a police investigator in Chodov was charged with "abuse of power" after calling a Romani man to the police station for questioning, where he allegedly gave the Rom alcohol, and then raped him when he lost consciousness. (references)

Minorities

Greece

Many Greek Muslims, including Pomaks, identify themselves as Turks and say that the Muslim minority as a whole has a Turkish cultural consciousness. (references)

Russia

On May 9, a group of skinheads attacked and beat approximately 11 members of the church group Pathfinder International in Victory Park in Moscow; one individual was beaten so severely that he lost consciousness. (references)

Women

Ecuador

In addition, the National Women's Council provides support for approximately 500 women's organizations, many of which promote social consciousness and greater participation by women in the political process. (references)

Worker Rights

Kazakhstan

Safety consciousness in both employees and employers is low. (references)

Bangladesh

Newspapers also reported 5 separate cases of children being tortured by their domestic employers; in one case a 10-year-old girl allegedly was beaten until she lost consciousness. (references)

Bangladesh

For example, according to press reports an 11-year-old domestic servant was the victim of an "unnatural death," and one 10-year-old domestic servant was reportedly beaten by her employer until she lost consciousness. (references)

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

TAIL, n. The part of an animal's spine that has transcended its natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of its own. Excepting in its foetal state, Man is without a tail, a privation of which he attests an hereditary and uneasy consciousness by the coat-skirt of the male and the train of the female, and by a marked tendency to ornament that part of his attire where the tail should be, and indubitably once was. This tendency is most observable in the female of the species, in whom the ancestral sense is strong and persistent. The tailed men described by Lord Monboddo are now generally regarded as a product of an imagination unusually susceptible to influences generated in the golden age of our pithecan past.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Top     

Spoken Usage: Consciousness

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Fran Drescher

I'm not a suer. I didn't sue anybody. I want to help people and I want to raise consciousness, and I want people, men and women alike, to become more aware of what early warning signs of cancer is and to empower themselves.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Speeches: Consciousness

SpeakerTermPhrase(s)

James Madison

1809-1817If I do not sink under the weight of this deep conviction it is because I find some support in a consciousness of the purposes and a confidence in the principles which I bring with me into this arduous service.

Woodrow Wilson

1913-1921In that consciousness, despite many divisions, we have drawn closer together.

Calvin Coolidge

1923-1929When victory had been fully secured, we withdrew to our own shores unrecompensed save in the consciousness of duty done.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top     

Usage Frequency: Consciousness

"Consciousness" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.80% of the time. "Consciousness" is used about 2,518 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)99.8%2,5133,606
Noun (proper)0.08%2245,945
Noun (common)0.08%2245,945
Noun (plural)0.04%1339,140
                    Total100.00%2,518N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top     

Expressions: Consciousness

Expressions using "consciousness": class consciousness Consciousness and thought diagnosis Consciousness Disorders Consciousness therapy IIP Consciousness Development Program international Society for Krishna Consciousness loose consciousness lose consciousness loss of consciousness regain consciousness self consciousness stream of consciousness subliminal consciousness. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "consciousness": consciousness-altering, consciousness-altering drug, consciousness-creating, consciousness-expanding, consciousness-generator, consciousness-of, consciousness-raiser, consciousness-raising, consciousness-say, consciousness-the.

Ending with "consciousness": class-consciousness, cost-consciousness, god-consciousness, stream-of-consciousness.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Consciousness

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

consciousness

162

baars bernard consciousness

9

inducing consciousness

51

consciousness raising

8

stream of consciousness

47

journal of consciousness study

7

altered state of consciousness

23

krishna consciousness

7

human consciousness

21

altered consciousness

6

christ consciousness

18

consciousness glen

6

level of consciousness

18

consciousness in research

6

state of consciousness

16

loss of consciousness

5

cosmic consciousness

15

consciousness research

5

black consciousness

13

psychology of consciousness

5

collective consciousness

13

consciousness false

5

united state of consciousness

13

consciousness international krishna society

5

higher consciousness

12

bose condensate consciousness einstein

5

consciousness study

11

consciousness and the brain

4

consciousness davidson glen

10

evolution of consciousness

4

self consciousness

10

animal consciousness

4

quantum consciousness

10

black consciousness movement

4

consciousness wealth

10

god consciousness

4

prosperity consciousness

9

consciousness definition

4

consciousness double

9

spiritual consciousness

4
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Modern Translation: Consciousness

Language Translations for "consciousness"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Afrikaans

  

besinning (awareness), besef (awareness, be aware of, be conscious of, notion, realise, realization, realize, sense, understand). (various references)

   

Albanian

  

vetëdijë (conscience, feeling), ndjenja (breast, heart), ndërgjegje (conscience, thoroughness). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏وعي (awareness, realization, sensibility), ‏إادراك, ‏شعور (affect, aura, cheer, feel, feeling, hunch, pulse, sensation). (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

съзнание (daylights, mind, sensorium, sentience). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

覺悟 (awareness), 知觉 (sensory), 意識 . (various references)

   

Czech

  

vìdomí (knowledge, sense). (various references)

   

Danish

  

bevidsthed (awareness). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

bezinning (awareness), bewustzijn (awareness), besef (awareness, notion, realization, sense). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

konscio (awareness). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

tunto (conscience, feeling, sensation, touch), tietoisuus (knowledge), tajunta (apprehension, comprehension, conception), taju. (various references)

   

French

  

conscience (conscience, conscientiousness, self consciousness), connaissance (cognition, cognizance). (various references)

   

Frisian

  

bewustwêzen (awareness). (various references)

   

German

  

Bewußtsein (awareness), Gewissenhaftigkeit (conscientiousness, religiousness, scrupulousness, studiousness), Bewusstsein (awareness, convictions), Besinnung (contemplation, reflection). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

συνείδηση (conscience), επίγνωση (awareness, insight), αίσθηση (percept, sensation, sense). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

תו"ע" (mind), "כר" (acquaintanceship, recognition). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

tudatosság (awareness), öntudat (self-awareness, senses), tudat (acquaint, announce, conscience, inform, let know, sense, senses, to acquaint, to let know). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

kesadaran (awareness, realization), insaf (be conscious of, notion, realize). (various references)

   

Italian

  

coscienza (awareness, conscience, sensibleness), consapevolezza (awareness, sensibleness). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

人心地 , 正気 (sanity, soberness, true character, true heart, true spirit), 正" (natural shape, one's true colors, senses, true character), 意識  (senses), 意識 (senses). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

しょうたい (invitation, natural shape, one's true colors, platoon, senses, true character), しょうき (affectation, business opportunity, desire to be impressive, god to ward off illness and misfortune, laughing gas, marsh gas, methane, minute description, nitrous oxide, person of small capacities, sanity, small container, soberness, true character, true heart, true spirit), ひと""ち, せいき (animation, century, Christian era, era, essence, established, formal, genital, happen, legal, legitimate, life, life energy, occurrence, prosperous period, regular, sanity, soberness, spirit, take place, true character, true heart, true spirit, verve, vigor, vitality), いしき (breach of etiquette, informality, kimono seat lining, senses, stone tree). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

의식 (awareness, ritual). (various references)

   

Manx

  

errys, enney (acquaintance, acquaintanceship, awareness, cognition, identity, knowledge, recognition), co-yssaght. (various references)

   

Norwegian

  

bevissthet. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

onsciousnesscay.(various references)

   

Portuguese

  

consciência (awareness, conscience, sense, spirit, worm), conhecimento (acquaintance, attainment, awareness, background, cognition, cognizance, command, conscious, conversance, familiarity, friend, idea, information, insight, instruction, intelligence, know, knowing, knowledge, learning, light, lore, manifest, perception, privity, scholarship, science). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

cunoştinţã (acquaintance, attainment, cognizance, notice), conştiinţã (conscience, mind, scruple), caracter conştient, simţire (feeling, pathos, sentiment, soul). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

сознание (conscience, recognition). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

svest (conscience, mind), svesnost (awareness, lucidity). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

consciencia (awareness, conscience), conocimiento (acquaintance, acquaintanceship, awareness, cognizance, conversance, conviction, enquiry, expedition, fame, familiarity, glory, knowing, knowledge, light, privity, shipping bill). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

medvetande (awareness). (various references)

   

Turkish

  

zihin (mind), idrak (apperception, appreciation, cognation, cognizance, comprehension, discernment, grasp, grip, intelligence, nous, perception, percipience, perspicacity, realization), his (chord, emotion, feel, feeling, sensation, sense, sentiment), bilinç, şuur (mind), akıl (advice, bean, brain, chump, comprehension, gray matter, grey matter, head, headpiece, intellect, intelligence, loaf, memory, mental, mind, nous, prudence, psyche, reason, sapience, senses, strength of mind, wisdom, wit). (various references)

   

Turkmen 

  

mьяn. (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

усвідомлення (perception, realization, recognition), свідомість (conscience, senses), самосвідомість (apperception, self consciousness), розуміння (apprehension, conception, insight, knowing, knowledge, taste, understanding, uptake). (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

sự hiểu biết ý thức. (various references)

   

Welsh

  

ymwybyddiaeth. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Top     

Ancestral Language Translations: Consciousness

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

animus. (various references)

Avestan200-600

baodhangh. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top     

Derivations & Misspellings: Consciousness

Derivations

Words beginning with "consciousness": consciousnesses. (additional references)

Words ending with "consciousness": hyperconsciousness, semiconsciousness, subconsciousness, unconsciousness. (additional references)

Words containing "consciousness": hyperconsciousnesses, semiconsciousnesses, subconsciousnesses, unconsciousnesses. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Consciousness" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: comsciousness, conciousness, conscienceness, consciouslessly, conscioussness, consiousness. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Top     

Rhyming with "Consciousness"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "consciousness" (pronounced kÄ"nshusnus)
9k Ä" n sh u s n u sunconsciousness.
7-n sh u s n u scontentiousness.
6-sh u s n u scautiousness, fractiousness, graciousness, viciousness.
5-u s n u scallousness, carelessness, contagiousness, disingenuousness, helplessness, homelessness, hopelessness, joblessness, lawlessness, nervousness, outrageousness, pompousness, powerlessness, rebelliousness, recklessness, restlessness, righteousness, ruthlessness, selflessness, seriousness, weightlessness.
4-s n u scloseness, hoarseness, niceness.
3-n u sabruptness, absoluteness, acuteness, aggressiveness, agribusiness, airworthiness, alertness, aloofness, alumnus, Anas, androgynous, anise, appropriateness, arbitrariness, assertiveness, astuteness, asynchronous, attentiveness, attractiveness, awareness, awfulness, awkwardness, backwardness, badness, bagginess, baldness, bearishness, bigness, bitterness, bituminous, blackness, blandness, bleakness, blindness, bluntness, boldness, bonus, boorishness, brashness, brightness, bullishness, business, calmness, casualness, cavernous, cheapness, chitinous, cleanliness, cleanness, cleverness, cloudiness, clumsiness, cockiness, cohesiveness, coldness, Colonus, combativeness, compactness, competitiveness, completeness, contrariness, Conus, coolness, correctness, coziness, craziness, creativeness, creditworthiness, creepiness, crispness, crookedness, cuteness, dampness, darkness, Deaconess, deadliness, deafness, decisiveness, defensiveness, destructiveness, directness, distinctiveness, divisiveness, dizziness, dreariness, drowsiness, drunkenness, dryness, dullness, eagerness, earnestness, edginess, effectiveness, elusiveness, emptiness, evenness, exogenous, eyewitness, faintness, fairness, farsightedness, fastness, fickleness, firmness, fitness, flatness, fondness, foolishness, forcefulness, forgiveness, forthrightness, foulness, frankness, freshness, friendliness, frothiness, fullness, funniness, furnace, gauntness, gayness, gelatinous, gentleness, genuineness, genus, ghastliness, gluttonous, goodness, governess, greatness, greenness, grimness, hairiness, handedness, happiness, hardness, harmfulness, harness, harshness, heinous, highness, holiness, homesickness, homogenous, hopefulness, humanness, idleness, illness, inclusiveness, indebtedness, indecisiveness, indigenous, ineffectiveness, ineptness, inertness, intravenous, intrusiveness, inventiveness, Johannes, kindness, larcenous, largeness, lateness, laziness, lenis, lightfastness, lightness, likeness, liveliness, loneliness, lousiness, luminous, madness, Manus, meanness, membranous, menace, Minas, mindedness, minus, monotonous, mountainous, mutinous, narrowness, nastiness, nearsightedness, neatness, newness, nitrogenous, nonbusiness, nonpoisonous, nosiness, nothingness, numbness, ominous, oneness, onus, openness, orderliness, otherness, outspokenness, pandanus, peacefulness, penis, permissiveness, persuasiveness, pervasiveness, pettiness, playfulness, poisonous, politeness, polygynous, possessiveness, preparedness, queasiness, quickness, quietness, raciness, randomness, rareness, ravenous, rawness, readiness, reasonableness, redness, remoteness, resistiveness, resourcefulness, responsiveness, restiveness, restrictiveness, richness, rightness, riskiness, robustness, roominess, roughness, rowdiness, rudeness, ruinous, sacredness, sadness, Salinas, sameness, scantiness, secretiveness, selfishness, sensitiveness, separateness, shakiness, shallowness, sharpness, shortness, shortsightedness, shrewdness, shyness, sickness, silliness, sinus, skittishness, slackness, sleepiness, sloppiness, slovenliness, slowness, sluggishness, slyness, smallness, smoothness, smugness, softness, solitariness, soundness, spiritedness, squeamishness, starkness, steadfastness, steadiness, steepness, sternness, stiffness, stillness, stinginess, stoutness, strangeness, stubbornness, sturdiness, suddenness, suggestiveness, sweetness, swiftness, tardiness, tartness, tastiness, tenderness, tetanus, thickness, thinness, thoroughness, thoughtfulness, tightness, timeliness, tiredness, togetherness, toughness, trustworthiness, truthfulness, ugliness, uneasiness, unfairness, unhappiness, uniqueness, unpleasantness, unwieldiness, unwillingness, usefulness, vagueness, vastness, venous, villainous, vindictiveness, vividness, voluminous, wariness, wastefulness, waterishness, weakness, weariness, weirdness, wellness, wetness, whiteness, wholeness, wholesomeness, wickedness, wilderness, wildness, willingness, wimpiness, wistfulness, witness, wonderfulness, worldliness, worthiness, wryness.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Top     

Anagrams: Consciousness

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "c-c-e-i-n-n-o-o-s-s-s-s-u"

-2 letters: concessions, concussions, consciouses, successions.

-3 letters: concession, concussion, nonsuccess, succession.

-4 letters: concusses, conscious, consensus, nonissues.

-5 letters: cessions, conioses, cosiness, nonissue, nosiness, sessions, unsonsie.

 Words containing the letters "c-c-e-i-n-n-o-o-s-s-s-s-u"
 

+2 letters: consciousnesses, conspicuousness, unconsciousness.

 

+3 letters: subconsciousness.

 

+4 letters: conscientiousness, conspicuousnesses, inconspicuousness, semiconsciousness, unconsciousnesses.

 

+5 letters: hyperconsciousness, subconsciousnesses.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Top     



INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern
5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Photo Album
7. Quotations: Familiar
8. Quotations: Historic
9. Quotations: Fiction
10. Quotations: Non-fiction
11. Quotations: Spoken
12. Quotations: Speeches
13. Usage Frequency
14. Expressions
15. Expressions: Internet
16. Translations: Modern
17. Translations: Ancient
18. Derivations
19. Rhymes
20. Anagrams
21. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.