Meaning & use
nonconscious
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparabletechnical
Happening or existing without awareness, as with mental or bodily processes that run on their own.
Grammar: Often used before a noun: nonconscious processes.
Patterns
- nonconscious process
- nonconscious bias
Breathing while you sleep is a nonconscious process.
Researchers study nonconscious influences on shopping choices.
Much of how we balance when walking is nonconscious.
adjectivenot comparabletechnical
Lacking any mind or awareness at all, as in objects or simple organisms.
Grammar: Can follow be: a rock is nonconscious.
Patterns
- be nonconscious
A stone is nonconscious, while a dog is not.
Philosophers debate whether plants are conscious or nonconscious.
The simple machine is entirely nonconscious.
Common combinations
- nonconscious process
- Digestion is a nonconscious process.
- nonconscious bias
- Training can help staff notice nonconscious bias.
- nonconscious behavior
- Blinking is nonconscious behavior.
- nonconscious learning
- Children pick up grammar through nonconscious learning.
- nonconscious influence
- Music can have a nonconscious influence on mood.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unconscious
- Unconscious is the common everyday word and can also mean knocked out, while nonconscious usually means simply without awareness.
- automatic
- Automatic stresses that something happens by itself without effort, while nonconscious stresses the lack of awareness.
- subconscious
- Subconscious points to thoughts just below awareness that can influence us, whereas nonconscious covers processes that never reach awareness.
Opposites
Word family
- conscious adjective
- aware and awake
- consciousness noun
- the state of being aware
- unconscious adjective
- not awake, or unaware
- nonconsciously adverb
- without awareness
Commonly confused: nonconscious or unconscious?
nonconscious vs unconscious
Unconscious often means a person is knocked out or asleep. Nonconscious describes a process or thing that lacks awareness.
Practice
Which sentence uses nonconscious correctly?
Choose one answer.
Heartbeat runs without awareness, so it is a nonconscious process. The other sentences use the idea of being knocked out or unaware, which normally calls for unconscious or unaware.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nonconscious”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.