unconsciousadj.n.
/ˌʌnˈkɒnʃəs/, /ˌʌŋˈkɒnʃəs/, U.S. /ˌənˈkɑnʃəs/ A. adj.
1. Not having knowledge or awareness of a fact or circumstance; unaware, heedless; unwitting.
a. With of.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > [adjective] > ignorant of something
unwittingc893
unwarec1374
unknowinga1398
ignorantc1425
unawares1549
unfraught1587
unintelligenta1616
unstudied1642
a stranger to1665
unconscious1678
unconscious1700
unskilled1725
oblivious1854
1678 tr. T. Hobbes De Mirabilibus Pecci 50 It moves in hast... (Unconscious [L. inscius] of its fault which tortur'd cryes).
1712 R. Blackmore Creation vii. 350 Through every dark recess [they] pursue their Flight, Unconscious of the Road.
1766 T. Nugent Hist. Vandalia I. ii. xii. 393 Thus did Henry..exultingly triumph over his vanquished foes, unconscious of his own impending fate.
1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions II. 172 Never having been disturbed, these animals were unconscious of danger.
1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea I. 158 All this time he was unconscious of exercising any ascendancy.
1917 Colorado School Mines Mag. Dec. 232/1 Gibby,..unconscious of the discomforture his ill chosen expressions were causing, asked Chiang..to stop.
1941 L. E. Price in J. F. Dobie et al. Texian Stomping Grounds 35 Another barefoot boy and I, wholly unconscious of our summer leg-sores and stone bruises that made shoes and stockings impossible, ran after the wagon.
2004 N.Y. Times Mag. 1 Feb. 23/3 She never would be so carefree or so unconscious of what people call the state's ‘race culture’ again.
b. With subordinate clause. Now somewhat archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > [adjective] > ignorant of something
unwittingc893
unwarec1374
unknowinga1398
ignorantc1425
unawares1549
unfraught1587
unintelligenta1616
unstudied1642
a stranger to1665
unconscious1678
unconscious1700
unskilled1725
oblivious1854
1700 R. South Musica Incantans 3 Unconscious, that this Orpheus with his Lyre, Could Life destroy, as well as Life Inspire.
1789 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 472 Are ye herding the Pennie, Unconscious what danger awaits?
1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes i. 52 Silent, with closed lips,..unconscious that they were specially brave.
1872 A. C. Swinburne in Fortn. Rev. Sept. 255 The colossal Sphinx..unconscious if any reptile beslaver its base.
1908 S. R. Crockett Deep Moat Grange xii. 101 I was quite unconscious what I was holding on to.
1955 Times 18 Aug. 11/5 One may admire his delicate embroidery without being quite unconscious that in a less accomplished writer much of it would be called padding.
2009 H. Malafry Blue Shaman xii. 294 Blinded by their lust for women, [men are] altogether unconscious how much is shaped by woman's influence in them.
c. Without construction.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > unconscious mind > [adjective]
unconscious1712
unconscient1829
consentient1877
subintentional1932
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > absence of perception > [adjective]
unwittingc893
unweeting1303
senseless1560
weetless1579
witless1584
imperceptive1661
inconscious1678
unconscious1712
unminding1714
impercipient1733
unconscient1829
incognizant1837
uncognisant1860
incognitive1862
inconscient1885
1712 R. Blackmore Creation vi. 304 Unconscious we these Motions never heed, Whether they err, or by just Laws proceed.
a1795 S. Bishop Poet. Wks. (1796) I. 247 An home; At whose low door, with house-wife zeal, Unconscious beauty twirls her wheel.
1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xiii. 122 As he stood..surveying his (of course unconscious) clerk, from head to foot.
1889 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 202 I mean the unconscious model, i.e., one taken unawares with a detective camera.
1929 E. Bowen Last September xvii. 214 Cicely..hummed a fox-trot and tapped her heel on the floor, looking most unconscious.
1948 R. O. Dunlop Understanding Pictures iii. 20 Paul Cézanne, the unconscious founder of Post-Impressionism.
2009 G. Hamilton & B. Jones Encycl. Amer. Pop. Fiction 40/1 Much of the debate surrounding Bridget Jones's Diary concerns whether Bridget is a conscious or unconscious victim of this consumerist-oriented women's culture.
2. Not having the faculty of consciousness (consciousness n. 2a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > absence of life or consciousness > [adjective]
lifelessOE
unlivingOE
bloodless and bonelessOE
deadlya1225
dead1430
natureless1548
exanimate1552
inanimatea1555
unlively1563
spiritless1570
unquickened1610
unanimate1615
inanimal1623
inanimated1646
unvital1661
unanimated1697
unbreathing1709
unconscious1744
pulseless1820
azoic1854
not-living1869
abiotic1873
unvitalized1874
1682 J. Lambe Serm. Guildhall-Chapel 19 Religion..changes not the nature of things, nor forceth blind unconscious causes to conspire the Accomplishment of all our ends.
1712 R. Blackmore Creation iii. 124 Unconscious Causes only still impart Their utmost Skill, their utmost Pow'r exert.
1744 M. Akenside Pleasures Imagination i. 527 For what are all The forms which brute, unconscious matter wears, Greatness of bulk, or symmetry of parts?
1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. iv. 55 Can any distinction be assigned..between the producing watch, and the producing plant? both passive, unconscious substances.
1886 F. Hartmann Magic, White & Black vii. 145 The object of death is to release that which is conscious from that which is unconscious, and to free the immortal from the bonds of..matter.
1935 W. Empson Some Versions of Pastoral iv. 119 The unconscious animal nature, including everything because in harmony with it.
2006 E. G. Wilson Melancholy Android iv. 109 Not only is he aware of his fate, and thus superior to the unconscious stone; [etc.].
3. Of a quality, emotion, etc.: of which the possessor is unaware; not recognized as existing in oneself.
ΚΠ
1725 C. Pitt tr. M. G. Vida Art Poetry i. 6 Some happy objects by meer chance are brought From hidden causes to th' unconscious thought.
a1773 T. Delamayne Ess. Man (1779) 6 Man in unconscious virtue—'twas believed—needless of law, and therefore lawless lived.
1840 C. Dickens Master Humphrey's Clock I. xiv. 104 It..might have been design, or accident, or the child's unconscious sympathy with youth.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 150 [She] rode..extremely well, and with an unconscious grace.
1908 Times, Lit. Supp. 6 Aug. 252/1 She ruled her staff and spread her unconscious influence throughout teacherdom.
1962 K. A. Porter Ship of Fools 88 I have seen children with unconscious cruelty try to train their pets to eat at table.
2009 E.L. Doctorow Homer & Langley 8 I could see the world with all the unconscious happiness of a fourteen-year-old.
4. Done, made, used, etc., without conscious awareness; unintentional; not deliberate or planned.unconscious cerebration: see cerebration n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > absence of perception > [adjective] > not perceived
unfelta1586
unconscious1784
1784 A. Seward Louisa iv. 82 As th'innocent eyes to her's the while Are gently rais'd with an unconscious smile.
1820 C. Lamb in London Mag. Oct. 367/1 He has long taken up his unconscious abode, amid an incongruous assembly of attorneys, attorneys' clerks [etc.].
1855 C. Wordsworth Athens & Attica (ed. 3) xxiii. 156 It may be considered as an unconscious emblem of the consecration of earthly history and glory and majesty to the Cross.
1878 S. Butler Life & Habit ii. 26 In like manner, the most perfect humour and irony is generally quite unconscious.
1928 Motorboating July 40/2 No doubt his unconscious act was representative of the unspoken tribute we were all giving.
1977 J. Richards Swordsmen of Screen p. ix Film as an unconscious reflection of national preoccupations.
2003 Washington Post (Nexis) 24 Aug. t7 Someone..detests you, because of a cast of the face, or an unconscious gesture.
5. Devoid of consciousness (consciousness n. 5); not aware of oneself or one's environment. Also: characterized by the absence of consciousness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > unconsciousness > [adjective]
insensible1426
senselessa1547
deadly1548
unsensible1568
slumbered1590
exanimate1619
lifeless1668
unconscious1832
impassive1846
1832 T. Roscoe tr. M. Alemán Guzman d’Alfarache in Spanish Novelists I. 226 On beholding the deed, her parents both fell unconscious at her side.
1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner (1861) xxvi. 302 A man is stunned by a blow with a stick on the head. He becomes unconscious.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. 199 Sleep, fainting, coma, epilepsy, and other ‘unconscious’ conditions.
1903 Express Gaz. 15 Jan. 13/1 Telegraph operator beaten unconscious.
1968 H. L. Packer Limits of Criminal Sanction v. 76 Conduct that occurs while the actor is in an unconscious state—sleepwalking, epileptic seizures, automatism—may not be dealt with criminally.
1991 Lancet 7 Sept. 607/1 In the early studies patients were awake and breathed spontaneously into the alcometer; now the method has been applied to unconscious patients.
2011 Church Times 14 Oct. 27/3 JC has had a seizure, and is lying unconscious in his bedroom.
6. Psychology. Designating mental or psychological processes of which a person is not aware but which influence emotions and behaviour, esp. (in Freudian theory) those resulting from repression (repression n. 2c); of, relating to, or controlled by the unconscious (sense B. 1). Also: designating the unconscious. Cf. subconscious adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > states of consciousness > unconscious as psychological influence > [adjective]
unconscious1855
1855 Jrnl. Psychol. Med. & Mental Pathol. 8 524 This unity is to be found in the identity of the conscious and unconscious mind.
1899 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 10 449 Subject to ‘ups and downs’; dominated considerably by conscious and unconscious fears and forebodings.
1913 S. Freud in Proc. Soc. Psychical Res. 1912–13 26 315 The term unconscious..designates not only latent ideas in general, but especially ideas with a certain dynamic character, ideas keeping apart from consciousness in spite of their intensity and activity.
1920 Psychoanalytic Rev. 7 103 It [sc. the dream] reveals her unconscious belief that she compares favorably with every other woman.
1956 R. F. C. Hull tr. C. G. Jung Symbols of Transformation in Coll. Wks. V. ix. 443 The Miller case is a classic example of the unconscious manifestations which precede a serious psychic disorder.
1978 J. A. Sandford Dreams & Healing 15 What the unconscious mind actually is we do not know, but we do know its manifestations in dreams,..patterns of behaviour,..and neuroses.
2012 Independent on Sunday 11 Mar. 7/2 Memories of certain people and places that are closely linked with the craving for alcohol prompt an unconscious impulse to drink.
B. n.
1. Psychology. Chiefly with the. That part of the mind which is inaccessible to the consciousness; spec. an aspect of the mind containing material repressed from and not directly accessible to the conscious mind, but capable of influencing emotions and behaviour. Cf. subconscious n.In later use frequently with reference or allusion to Freudian or Jungian psychoanalysis. Cf. note in etymology.collective unconscious: see collective adj. 2e.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > unconscious mind > [noun]
unconscious1818
consentience1877
subconscious1878
inner space1958
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > states of consciousness > unconscious as psychological influence > [noun]
unconscious1818
anti-self1917
1818 S. T. Coleridge Lect. Notes 10 Mar. in Notebks. (1973) III. 4397 As in every work of Art the Conscious—is so impressed on the Unconscious, as to appear in it..—so is the Man of Genius the Link that combines the two.
1833 S. Austin tr. J. W. von Goethe Let. in tr. J. D. Falk Characteristics of Goethe III. 363 Here occur the manifold relations between the Conscious and the Unconscious. Let us just imagine a person of musical talent who opens a fine score—consciousness, and unconsciousness, would stand in the relation of a woof and warp.
a1884 M. Pattison Mem. (1885) vii. 330 By whatever name you call it, the Unconscious is found controlling each man's destiny without, or in defiance of, his will.
1913 S. Freud in Proc. Soc. Psychical Res. 1912–13 26 318 The system revealed by the sign that the single acts forming part of it are unconscious we designate by the name ‘The Unconscious’, for want of a better and less ambiguous term.
1920 W. H. Rivers Instinct & Unconscious iv. 33 It will..be convenient to limit the use of the term ‘the unconscious’..to those earlier forms of mental activity and mental experience which have not been capable of utilization by the process of fusion.
1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 216 I would think I was dropping people when they were dropping me. And of course my unconscious knew better.
1977 A. Sheridan tr. J. Lacan Écrits iii. 50 The unconscious is that chapter of my history that is marked by a blank or occupied by a falsehood: it is the censored chapter.
2011 V. S. Ramachandran Tell-tale Brain (2012) ix. 249 Our mental life..is governed by the unconscious, a roiling cauldron of memories, associations, reflexes, motives, and drives.
2. Philosophy. With the. An objective and universal reality underlying the objects of perception, considered as devoid of consciousness (consciousness n. 2a). Cf. absolute n. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > cosmology > reality or principle that underlies the world
unconscious1836
world ground1853
1836 R. W. Emerson Nature vii. 80 The world proceeds from the same spirit as the body of man. It is a..projection of God in the unconscious.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present ii. xv. 157 The Unconscious is the alone Complete.
1876 Westm. Rev. 49 512 Those who are acquainted with the ‘pessimist’ conclusions of the ‘philosophy of the Unconscious’.
1902 A. Monahan tr. P. Janet & G. Séailles-Ranson Hist. Probl. Philos. I. iv. 130 The absolute is absolute indifference, the identity of the subjective and the objective. It is the principle of the conscious and the unconscious, of Nature and of mind.
2003 R. A. Poole tr. S. N. Bulgakov in Probl. Idealism i. 100 His [sc. von Hartmann's] eudaemonistic pessimism..finds its ultimate affirmation in..his theory of the unconscious as the absolute substance of the world.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1678