| / English Dictionary |
UNCONSCIOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
That part of the mind wherein psychic activity takes place of which the person is unaware
Synonyms:
unconscious; unconscious mind
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("unconscious" is a kind of...):
brain; head; mind; nous; psyche (that which is responsible for one's thoughts, feelings, and conscious brain functions; the seat of the faculty of reason)
Meronyms (parts of "unconscious"):
superego ((psychoanalysis) that part of the unconscious mind that acts as a conscience)
id ((psychoanalysis) primitive instincts and energies underlying all psychic activity)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(followed by 'of') not knowing or perceiving
Example:
happily unconscious of the new calamity at home
Classified under:
Similar:
incognizant; unaware ((often followed by 'of') not aware)
Derivation:
unconsciousness (a state lacking normal awareness of the self or environment)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
Example:
lay unconscious on the floor
Classified under:
Similar:
subconscious (just below the level of consciousness)
semicomatose (in a state of partial coma)
nonconscious (concerning mental functioning that is not represented in consciousness)
kayoed; knocked out; KO'd; out; stunned (knocked unconscious by a heavy blow)
insensible; out of it; senseless (unresponsive to stimulation)
innocent ((used of things) lacking sense or awareness)
comatose (in a state of deep and usually prolonged unconsciousness; unable to respond to external stimuli)
cold (unconscious from a blow or shock or intoxication)
Also:
incognizant; unaware ((often followed by 'of') not aware)
asleep (in a state of sleep)
insensible (incapable of physical sensation)
involuntary; nonvoluntary; unvoluntary (not subject to the control of the will)
Antonym:
conscious (knowing and perceiving; having awareness of surroundings and sensations and thoughts)
Derivation:
unconsciousness (a state lacking normal awareness of the self or environment)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Without conscious volition
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
involuntary; nonvoluntary; unvoluntary (not subject to the control of the will)
Context examples:
All day the little band of Englishmen lay in the sheltered gorge, looking down upon the vast host of their unconscious enemies.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They may act to induce general anesthesia, in which an unconscious state is achieved, or may act locally to induce numbness or lack of sensation at a targeted site.
(Anesthetic Agent, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
A conscious or unconscious refusal to encounter situations, activities, or objects; the act or practice of keeping away from or withdrawing from something.
(Avoidance, NCI Thesaurus)
Oh, you are an unconscious henchman.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
So I think at this hour, when I look back to the crisis through the quiet medium of time: I was unconscious of folly at the instant.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
In other words, the color people were seeing could not be attributed to the light hitting the eye, but to unconscious inferences about the proper color of faces.
(Rosy health and sickly green: color associations play robust role in reading faces, National Institutes of Health)
He was gazing at her with an open admiration of which he was quite unconscious, and which was drowning, along with him, in the rising sea of embarrassment in which he floundered.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Actions that render a patient unconscious for the purpose of performing a diagnostic or interventional procedure.
(General Anesthesia Procedure, NCI Thesaurus)
Use of conscious or unconscious strategies or mechanisms in adapting to stress.
(Coping skills, NCI Thesaurus)
An involuntary or unconscious clenching or grinding the teeth, typically during sleep.
(Bruxism, NCI Thesaurus)
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