UNCONSCIOUSNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unconsciousness mean? 

• UNCONSCIOUSNESS (noun)
  The noun UNCONSCIOUSNESS has 1 sense:

1. a state lacking normal awareness of the self or environment

  Familiarity information: UNCONSCIOUSNESS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNCONSCIOUSNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state lacking normal awareness of the self or environment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("unconsciousness" is a kind of...):

cognitive state; state of mind (the state of a person's cognitive processes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "unconsciousness"):

automatic pilot; autopilot (a cognitive state in which you act without self-awareness)

unawareness; unknowingness (unconsciousness resulting from lack of knowledge or attention)

blackout (a momentary loss of consciousness)

grogginess; semiconsciousness; stupefaction; stupor (marginal consciousness)

coma; comatoseness (a state of deep and often prolonged unconsciousness; usually the result of disease or injury)

electrosleep (unconsciousness brought about by the passage of a low voltage electric current through the brain)

semicoma (a mild comatose state; a coma from which the person can be roused by appropriate stimuli)

insensibility (a lack of sensibility)

trance (a state of mind in which consciousness is fragile and voluntary action is poor or missing; a state resembling deep sleep)

semitrance (a trancelike state in which the person can follow instructions but voluntary action is weak or absent)

narcosis (unconsciousness induced by narcotics or anesthesia)

Antonym:

consciousness (an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation)

Derivation:

unconscious ((followed by 'of') not knowing or perceiving)

unconscious (not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead)

 Context examples 

This type of anesthesia does not induce unconsciousness in the patient.

(Local Anesthesia Procedure, NCI Thesaurus)

A coma is a deep state of unconsciousness.

(Coma, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

A state of profound unconsciousness associated with markedly depressed cerebral activity.

(Coma, NCI Thesaurus)

A profound state of unconsciousness associated with depressed cerebral activity from which the individual cannot be aroused.

(Coma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

This man arranged a spur so that when unconsciousness came, his naked body pressed against the iron teeth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

As I emerged from my unconsciousness—which could not, I think, have lasted more than a few minutes—I was aware of a most dreadful and penetrating smell.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For half a day he lay motionless, fighting off unconsciousness and waiting for the thing that was to feed upon him and upon which he wished to feed.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I heard her sweeping away; and soon after she was gone, I suppose I had a species of fit: unconsciousness closed the scene.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness, and tried with all the power of my will to fight above the suffocating blankness and darkness that was rising around me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A method of euthanasia whereby a subject is shot in the brain with a captive bolt pistol causing immediate and permanent unconsciousness or death, followed by draining the body of blood.

(Captive Bolt and Exsanguination Euthanasia, NCI Thesaurus)