subconsciousadj.n.
/ˌsʌbˈkɒnʃəs/, /səbˈkɒnʃəs/, U.S. /səbˈkɑnʃəs/ A. adj.
1.
a. Operating or existing (just) below the level of conscious perception or control; esp. (of an external stimulus or influence) not clearly perceived or recognized; (of an action, response, etc.) partly or wholly involuntary; instinctive, unwitting. Also in extended use. Cf. subliminal adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > states of consciousness > subliminal self > [adjective]
subconscious1834
subliminal1883
subliminal1886
marginal1894
1834 T. De Quincey Cæsars in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 972 (note) The Emperor Hadrian had already taken a solitary step in the improvement of human nature; and not..without some sub-conscious influence received directly or indirectly from Christianity.
1848 T. De Quincey Wks. A. Pope in N. Brit. Rev. Aug. 326 How much grander and more faithful to that great theme [sc. Christianity] were the subconscious perceptions of his heart than the explicit commentaries of his understanding.
1866 F. W. H. Myers in E. Gurney et al. Phantasms of Living II. 285 There exist sub-conscious and unconscious operations of many kinds; both organic, as secretion, circulation, &c.,..and also mental, as the recall of names, the development of ideas, &c.
1895 J. M. Baldwin Mental Devel. xii. 352 Reaction or attitude, toward the doings, customs, opinions of others..which have become what is ordinarily called ‘secondary automatic’ and subconscious.
1899 Daily News 7 Jan. 6/4 A sketch of himself..has a subconscious humour one would not have suspected.
1914 A. T. de Mattos tr. M. Maeterlinck Unknown Guest iii. 186 A sort of premonition induced by subconscious perceptions, which has been christened by the barbarous name of ‘cryptaesthesia’.
1927 Observer 14 Aug. 8 There was a fair sprinkling of conscious or sub-conscious Thoreauvians among bygone seamen.
1955 N. Coward Diary 12 Dec. (2000) 297 A subconscious desire to prove that in spite of their impressive learning they are in fact ‘regular guys’ like you or me.
1964 Life Sci. 3 686 Conscious and subconscious conditioning..yet to be studied by biotechnologists and medicotechnologists in manned aerospace regimens.
1977 G. W. H. Lampe God as Spirit ii. 54 Divine communications at the subconscious level, for which the actual recipients had acted simply as passive receiving stations.
1995 Hispanic Mar. 6/2 Years of conscious and subconscious discrimination..created a work force dominated by the Anglo American Male.
2002 A. Bellin Poker Nation i. 8 Most players have a ‘tell’, some subconscious twitch or unnatural move that gives away what cards they are holding.
b. Of a person: partly or imperfectly aware (of something). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > mind below consciousness > [adjective] > imperfectly aware
subconsciousa1864
a1864 N. Hawthorne Septimius Felton vi, in Atlantic Monthly June (1872) 651/1 He was sub-conscious that he was trying a bold experiment.
1879 G. H. Lewes Probl. Life & Mind 3rd Ser. i. vii. 104 While obeying the prevailing impulse we are conscious and sub-conscious of simultaneous solicitations in different directions.
1922 J. Galsworthy Forsyte Saga III. ii. ii. 664 Soames looked on the river of his own existence, subconscious of Monsieur Profond, refusing to see more than the suspicion of his snout.
2. Psychology. Of, relating to, or controlled by the subconscious (sense B. (b)); hidden from oneself; repressed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > subconscious mind > [adjective]
subsensuousa1834
subsensual1840
subconscious1898
1898 B. Sidis Psychol. of Suggestion ii. xxl. 224 The subconscious memories of the patient were then tested by different methods, especially by the method which I term ‘hypnoidization’.
1907 Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & Sci. Methods 4 634 The fear of infection, of death, of palpitation of the heart, were all traced to ‘dissociated subconscious experiences’.
1921 Punch 5 Jan. 2/1 Only a protracted course of psycho-therapy can readjust the balance between the rational and the sub-conscious self.
1958 K. Tynan Let. Mar. (1994) iii. 217 Who, one wonders, could possibly be outraged by the imputation of Jewish origin but a man who was, at some deep subconscious level, allergic to Jews?
1989 ‘C. Roman’ Foreplay xxix. 354 She concentrates on my conscious self by addressing my subconscious fears.
1994 Independent on Sunday 16 Jan. 23/1 Susie's sister's hypnotherapy involved ‘regression’—going back though the subconscious memory to try to confront and tackle forgotten childhood incidents.
2003 Wilson Q. Spring 126/1 Sigmund Freud thought the bizarreness of dreams allowed sleepers to avoid acknowledging subconscious wishes.
B. n.
Originally Psychology. An aspect of the mind containing material not immediately available to the consciousness; spec. (a) that containing material of which a person is not currently aware, but which can readily be brought back into the consciousness (cf. preconscious n.); (b) that containing material repressed from, and not directly accessible to the conscious mind, but capable of influencing emotions and behaviour (cf. unconscious n. 1) (now disused in Psychology).Although Freud used the term subconscious (Unterbewusstsein) in his early writings, he later rejected it in favour of the less ambiguous terms preconscious (Vorbewusstsein) and unconscious (Unbewusstsein) (which he in turn replaced in 1920 with his system of id, ego, and superego); subconscious is not therefore used as a technical term in psychoanalysis. In Psychology more generally subconscious is sometimes used as a synonym for preconscious, but the latter term is preferred in more precise or technical writing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > unconscious mind > [noun]
unconscious1818
consentience1877
subconscious1878
inner space1958
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > subconscious mind > [noun]
subconsciousness1845
submind1856
subconscious1878
subconsciousness1889
1877 Academy 21 Apr. 344/1 The conscious region again falls into the subconscious, and the conscious in the narrower sense, so that we have three grades of mental life.]
1878 Cornhill Mag. July 561 We are at each successive moment elevating one impression or group of impressions after another into clear consciousness, while the rest fall back into the dim regions of the sub-conscious.
1890 J. M. Baldwin Handbk. Psychol. (ed. 2) iv. 57 This whole field in its relation to consciousness has been well called the sub-conscious, from the fact that images formerly in consciousness have now fallen below the threshold, but may rise again..when the stimulation of the centres is sufficient.
1912 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 23 134 The sex impulses find no outlet before puberty. Until that time they remain under the control of the subconscious (pleasure principle).
1914 M. Prince Unconscious i. 1 I divide the Subconscious into two parts, namely the Unconscious and the Coconscious.
1928 H. G. Baynes & C. F. Baynes tr. C. G. Jung Two Ess. Anal. Psychol. v. 67 The personal unconscious, of which I also speak as the ‘subconscious’, in contrast to the absolute or collective unconscious, contains forgotten memories, suppressed..painful ideas..apperceptions sometimes described as below the threshold (subliminal).
1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice xvi. 187 There's a guy in No. 7 that murdered his brother, and says he didn't really do it, his subconscious did it.
1957 V. Packard Hidden Persuaders iii. 27 With all this interest in manipulating the customer's subconscious, the old slogan ‘let the buyer beware’ began taking on a new and more profound meaning.
1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn i. 6 Something of this may have been in Norman's subconscious as he turned the pages of his newspaper.
1990 B. Rhode Melissa Sue i. 10 Would it be fair to..court a woman and still have the last vestiges of my memories of Marge in my subconscious?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1834