unconscious
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnkahnshuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈkɑnʃəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
Not awake; having no awareness (usually as the result of a head injury).
psychology
Without directed thought or awareness.
noun
psychology
That part of the mind wherein psychic activity takes place of which the person is unaware
psychology
That part of mind that is not consciously perceived.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
Used this way, unconscious is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use unconscious
- “Lay unconscious on the floor.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Lacking (something), or knowledge of it.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A mental process that you are not directly aware of.
That part of the mind wherein psychic activity takes place of which the person is unaware.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
noun
Sense: that part of the mind wherein psychic activity takes place of which the person is unaware
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.