unconscious

The word “unconscious” means not awake and unaware of one's surroundings, often due to injury or illness. In plain terms, not awake or aware — either physically knocked out, or acting without realizing it.

“Unconscious” is pronounced uhn-KON-shuhs (/ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəs/ in IPA).

Here is “unconscious” used in a sentence: “He was knocked unconscious during the match.”

Depending on how it is used, “unconscious” can be an adjective and a noun.

“Unconscious” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B2 level.

“Unconscious” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: not awake and unaware of one's surroundings, often due to injury or illness.

"Unconscious" can mean not awake, as after fainting or injury, or it can describe mental processes happening entirely outside awareness. "Subconscious" is a more everyday term for thoughts and feelings just below awareness that can sometimes be brought to mind; in psychology, the "unconscious" is the more technical term.

"Conscious" means awake and aware of your surroundings, or acting deliberately, while "unconscious" means either not awake and unaware, as after an injury, or done without deliberate awareness. They are direct opposites.

Despite the similar spelling, they are unrelated in meaning. "Unconscious" means not awake, or acting without awareness, while "unconscionable" means morally unacceptable or unreasonably excessive.

Sleep is a natural, reversible state from which a person can be roused easily, while being unconscious usually results from injury, illness, or anaesthesia and cannot be reversed simply by waking the person. Medically, the two are distinct states.