unconscious

comparative more unconscious · superlative most unconscious

1. Not awake; having no awareness (usually as the result of a head injury).

   After the anesthetist administered the general anesthetic the patient was unconscious.

   1 more example

   The firefighters put on breathing apparatus and managed to find the injured. In one case, they were almost too late - one of the bystanders who had helped with the initial rescue attempts had been reported missing. They were later found unconscious, having been overcome by the fumes.

   2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 51

   Synonyms: insentient, oblivious, out of it, unaware, down for the count, under, lost to the world, senseless

2. human sciencesWithout directed thought or awareness.

   My sudden fright was an unconscious response.

   2 more examples

   It was intolerable, he felt, to sit and eat in presence of that silent figure partly turned away from him, jotting down the different amounts on a bit of paper, and absorbed in that occupation as if unconscious of his presence.

   1884, Margaret Oliphant, The Wizard's Son

   Reshaping [of British Railways] was far from perfect. It was tainted by statistical overreach, the unconscious biases of its author, and by the political demands being placed upon the BRB by government.

   2023 March 8, Gareth Dennis, “The Reshaping of things to come...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 49

   Synonyms: subconscious

3. hobbiesengaged in skilled performance without conscious control.

   "I was unconscious," the basketball player gushes. "It seemed like everything I threw up toward the basket went straight in."

   1999, Joseph Leininger, Terry Whalin, Lessons from the Pit: A Successful Veteran of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, page 10

   2 more examples

   Sam is unconscious, filling it, drilling it from every conceivable angle. Lem is awful and Cooper seems confused. Josh shoots too often.

   1998, Charles Rosen, The Cockroach Basketball League, page 144

   Someone who has reeled off a string of baskets will say, "I was unconscious," as if he were following the Zen injunction to be mindful while suspending thought.

   2002, Alexander Wolff, Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure, page 292

   Synonyms: in the zone, on a roll

plural unconsciouses

1. human sciencesThat part of mind that is not consciously perceived.

   Because the unconscious is outside time, it can perceive transformations beyond the limits of the ego.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 135

   Synonyms: subconscious, subconsciousness, subconscious mind