Meaning & use
awareness
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Meanings
noununcountable
Knowing that something exists or is happening, because you have noticed or been told.
Grammar: Uncountable and often followed by of: awareness of the risks.
Patterns
- awareness of something
- awareness that something is true
There is little awareness of the risks among teenagers.
Her awareness of the noise made her speak softly.
Public awareness of recycling has increased.
noununcountable
The ability to sense what is going on around you or inside you.
Grammar: Used about people's minds: self-awareness.
Patterns
- awareness of something
The athlete has remarkable awareness of where her teammates are.
Meditation builds awareness of your breathing.
After the accident he regained awareness slowly.
noununcountable
Public knowledge about a social or health issue, which a campaign tries to raise.
Grammar: Often modifies another noun: an awareness campaign.
Patterns
- raise awareness of something
The charity raised awareness of the disease.
Awareness weeks help people learn about mental health.
The film boosted awareness among viewers.
Common combinations
- raise awareness
- The march was meant to raise awareness of climate change.
- public awareness
- Public awareness of the issue is growing.
- self-awareness
- Self-awareness helps you learn from mistakes.
- lack of awareness
- A lack of awareness can put people at risk.
- awareness campaign
- The awareness campaign ran on buses and billboards.
Synonyms and how they differ
- knowledge
- Knowledge is broad and implies facts you hold, while awareness implies noticing something.
- consciousness
- Consciousness is deeper and can mean being awake, while awareness is lighter.
- recognition
- Recognition suggests acknowledging something, but awareness is simply knowing.
- understanding
- Understanding means grasping how something works, while awareness is just knowing it exists.
Opposites
Word family
- aware adjective
- knowing that something exists
- unaware adjective
- not knowing
- self-aware adjective
- conscious of your own character
- awareness noun
- the state of knowing
Commonly confused: awareness or consciousness?
awareness vs consciousness
Consciousness is the state of being awake and able to think, which is wider than awareness of a particular fact.
Practice
The campaign aims to raise ____ of the dangers of sun exposure.
Choose one answer.
Raise needs a noun object, and awareness is the noun. Aware is an adjective, and the other options are not standard words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “awareness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.