consciousness

consciousness
con‧scious‧ness W3 /ˈkɒnʃəsnəs, ˈkɒnʃəsnɪs $ ˈkɑːn-/ noun1. [uncountable] the condition of being awake and able to understand what is happening around you:
    David lost consciousness (=went into a deep sleep) at eight o'clock and died a few hours later.
    She could faintly hear voices as she began to regain consciousness (=wake up).
2. [uncountable and countable] your mind and your thoughts:
    The painful memories eventually faded from her consciousness.
    Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.
    research into human consciousness
3. [countable] someone’s ideas, feelings, or opinions about politics, life etc:
    The experience helped to change her political consciousness.
4. [uncountable] when you know that something exists or is true
   SYN  awareness:
    This will increase public consciousness of the pollution issue.
⇨ stream of consciousness
     

COLLOCATIONS

■ verbs
   ▪ lose consciousness (=go into a type of deep sleep that is not normal) As she fell, she hit her head and lost consciousness for several minutes.
   ▪ regain/recover consciousness (=wake up) I wanted to stay at the hospital until he regained consciousness.
   ▪ return to consciousness When I returned to consciousness, my head was throbbing with pain.
   ▪ bring somebody back to consciousness The doctors were unable to bring her back to consciousness.
   ▪ drift in and out of consciousness (=be awake and then not awake, and then awake again, etc) He had a high temperature and was drifting in and out of consciousness.