Meanings
comparative more aware · comparative awarer · superlative most aware · superlative awarest
- Conscious or having knowledge of something; awake.
Are you aware of what is being said about you?
4 more examples
Gotta get going. I wasn’t aware that it was already so late.
“[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLCThe guard was paying no attention whatever to the running of his train, in total disregard of rules, and, as the recently-published report of a Ministry of Transport Inspecting Officer of Railways shows, there were other disquieting features in the case, such as ignorance on the part of responsible men of rules and appendix instructions and a lax attitude to regulations of which they professed to be aware, combined with failure to look at staff notice boards.
1956 September, “Notes and News: The Barby Sidings Accident Report”, in Railway Magazine, page 638Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of.
2025 April 28, Ross Douthat, Nick Adams, “Condition of America”, in New Left Review, number 152, →ISSNSynonyms: apprised, informed, cognizant, conscious, mindful, sensible
present singular third person awares · participle present awaring · participle past awared · past awared
- nonstandardtransitiveTo make (someone) aware of something.
Conſcience is the director of all our actions, and diſcriminates them all, with the intentions of our hearts; awares us of the crime of the one, and the virtue of the other.
1799, William Earle, Junior, Natural Faults: A Comedy, in Five Acts, London: […] sold by Earle and Hemet […], [Act II, scene i], page 17
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveVigilant or on one's guard against danger or difficulty.
adjectiveConscious or having knowledge of something; awake.
More synonyms by meaning
adjective(sometimes followed by ‘of’) having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*worós“attentive”
- Proto-West Germanic*gawar
- Old Englishġewær“aware”
- Middle Englishaware, iwar, iware, ywar
- Englishaware
Inherited from Middle English aware, iwar, iware, ywar, from Old English ġewær (“aware”), from Proto-West Germanic *gawar, from Proto-Germanic *waraz (“aware, cautious”), from Proto-Indo-European *worós (“attentive”), from *wer- (“to heed; watch out”). Cognate with Dutch gewaar, German gewahr, Danish var, Swedish var, Icelandic varr.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian бдителен, съзнаващ
- бдителен (bditelen)vigilant, on one's guard
- съзнаващ (săznavašt)having knowledge of something
Catalan vigilant, a l’aguait
- vigilantvigilant, on one's guard
- a l’aguaitvigilant, on one's guard
- atentvigilant, on one's guard
- conscienthaving knowledge of something
Chinese Mandarin 警惕的, 知道的
- 警惕的 (jǐngtì de)vigilant, on one's guard
- 知道的 (zhīdào de)having knowledge of something
- 意識到的 /意识到的 (yìshídào de)having knowledge of something
Czech bdělý, ostražitý
- bdělývigilant, on one's guard
- ostražitývigilant, on one's guard
- vědomhaving knowledge of something
- znalýhaving knowledge of something
Dutch waakzaam, op zijn hoede
- waakzaamvigilant, on one's guard
- op zijn hoedevigilant, on one's guard
- op de hoogte zijnhaving knowledge of something
Esperanto konscia
- konsciahaving knowledge of something
Finnish valpas, tietoinen
- valpasvigilant, on one's guard
- tietoinenhaving knowledge of something
French attentif, vigilant
- attentifvigilant, on one's guard
- vigilantvigilant, on one's guard
- en éveilvigilant, on one's guard
- en alertevigilant, on one's guard
- sur ses gardesvigilant, on one's guard
- conscienthaving knowledge of something
- au couranthaving knowledge of something
German wachsam, gewahr
- wachsamvigilant, on one's guard
- gewahrvigilant, on one's guard
- bewussthaving knowledge of something
- gewahrhaving knowledge of something
Indonesian waspada, insaf
- waspadavigilant, on one's guard
- insafhaving knowledge of something
Irish eolach
- eolachhaving knowledge of something
Italian all'erta, consapevole
- all'ertavigilant, on one's guard
- consapevolehaving knowledge of something
Latin cōnscius
- cōnsciushaving knowledge of something
Māori aroā
- aroāhaving knowledge of something
Persian آگاه
- آگاه (âgâh)having knowledge of something
Polish świadom, świadomy
- świadomhaving knowledge of something
- świadomyhaving knowledge of something
Portuguese alerta, consciente
- alertavigilant, on one's guard
- conscientehaving knowledge of something
- cientehaving knowledge of something
Russian бди́тельный, зна́ющий
- бди́тельный (bdítelʹnyj)vigilant, on one's guard
- зна́ющий (znájuščij)having knowledge of something
- осведомлённый (osvedomljónnyj)having knowledge of something
- све́дущий (svéduščij)having knowledge of something
- в ку́рсе (v kúrse)having knowledge of something
Scottish Gaelic fiosrach
- fiosrachhaving knowledge of something
Spanish alerta, consciente
- alertavigilant, on one's guard
- conscientehaving knowledge of something
- cognoscentehaving knowledge of something
- cognoscitivohaving knowledge of something
- concienciadohaving knowledge of something
- concientizadohaving knowledge of something
Swedish medveten
- medvetenhaving knowledge of something
Tagalog naiino, nakaiino
- naiinovigilant, on one's guard
- nakaiinovigilant, on one's guard
- naiinohaving knowledge of something
- nakaiinohaving knowledge of something
Turkish uyanık, ayık
- uyanıkvigilant, on one's guard
- ayıkvigilant, on one's guard
- haberdarhaving knowledge of something
Ukrainian пи́льний, зна́ючий
- пи́льний (pýlʹnyj)vigilant, on one's guard
- зна́ючий (znájučyj)having knowledge of something
- обі́знаний (obíznanyj)having knowledge of something
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with aware
Cite this entry
aware. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aware
“aware.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aware. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aware,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aware.
Source: aware on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.