unconscious
/ʌn'kɔnʃəs/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Adjective:
- Not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception: Describes a state where a person is not awake, aware, or responsive, typically due to injury, illness, or sleep.
- (Followed by
of) not knowing or perceiving: Describes being unaware of a particular fact, feeling, or situation.
Noun:
- That part of the mind wherein psychic activity takes place of which the person is unaware: In psychology, this refers to the unconscious mind, containing thoughts, memories, and desires not presently in conscious awareness but influencing behavior.
Usage Examples
Adjective (Lacking awareness):
- The boxer was knocked unconscious for several minutes.
- She was found lying unconscious on the floor after the accident.
Adjective (Not knowing/Unaware - followed by
of):- He was completely unconscious of the mistake he had made.
- She remained happily unconscious of the gossip circulating about her.
Noun (The unconscious mind):
- Psychoanalysis often explores the contents of the unconscious.
- Dreams are sometimes considered a window into the unconscious.
Advanced Usage
Collective unconscious: A term in Jungian psychology referring to structures of the unconscious mind shared among beings of the same species.
- Jung believed that archetypes reside in the collective unconscious.
Unconscious bias: Attitudes or stereotypes that affect understanding, actions, and decisions in an involuntary manner.
- The company implemented training to help employees recognize their unconscious biases.
Variants and Related Words
Unconsciously (adverb): In a way that is not conscious or deliberate.
- He unconsciously tapped his fingers on the table while thinking.
Unconsciousness (noun): The state of being unconscious.
- The blow to his head resulted in immediate unconsciousness.
Synonyms
- Adjective (state): Comatose, insensible, out cold, senseless.
- Adjective (unaware): Oblivious, ignorant, unmindful, heedless.
- Noun (mind): Subconscious, psyche.
Antonyms
- Adjective: Conscious, aware, awake, alert.
- Noun: Conscious mind, awareness.
Related Phrases
Slip of the tongue/Freudian slip: An unintentional error regarded as revealing subconscious feelings.
- His accidental use of his ex's name was a classic Freudian slip from the unconscious.
To render someone unconscious: To cause someone to become unconscious.
- The anesthetic rendered the patient unconscious before the surgery.
Adjective
- (followed by `of') not knowing or perceiving
- happily unconscious of the new calamity at home- Charles Dickens
- without conscious volition
- not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
- lay unconscious on the floor
Noun
- that part of the mind wherein psychic activity takes place of which the person is unaware