awareness

awareness — noun

1. the mental state of noticing the presence of something, or having a clear sense

1.nounC1
Definition

the mental state of noticing the presence of something, or having a clear sense of what a situation, issue, or topic involves — usually because you have read about it, been told about it, or lived through it yourself.

Example

The charity walk aims to raise awareness of childhood diabetes among parents in Taipei.

collocation: raise awareness of [issue]

Public awareness of food allergies has grown sharply in Taiwanese schools over the last decade.

collocation: public awareness of [topic]

Common collocations
  • raise awareness
  • increase awareness
  • promote awareness
  • lack of awareness
  • growing awareness
  • public awareness
  • self-awareness
  • cultural awareness
  • awareness campaign
  • awareness of
Synonyms
  • consciousness

    more formal; often used for being aware of one's identity or social issues, e.g. 'social consciousness'

  • knowledge

    wider; refers to facts you have learned, while 'awareness' stresses simply knowing that something exists

  • understanding

    implies grasping how something works, not just knowing it is there

  • recognition

    stresses noticing or accepting that something is true or important

Antonyms
  • ignorance

    lack of any knowledge about a subject

  • unawareness

    neutral opposite, less common in everyday speech

  • obliviousness

    stronger; suggests being completely unconcerned or not noticing at all

Grammar Patterns

awareness of + noun

awareness that + clause

raise/increase/promote awareness

Usage Note

Almost always uncountable. Subject is typically a person, group, or the public; the thing known follows with 'of' + noun or a that-clause. Frequently appears in fixed collocations such as 'raise awareness', 'public awareness', and compounds like 'self-awareness' or 'awareness campaign'.

Common Mistakes

She has many awarenesses about safety.
She has a lot of awareness about safety.
'awareness' is uncountable, so no plural and no 'a/an' in this meaning.
The poster raised awareness about the disease to people.
The poster raised awareness of the disease among people.
use 'of' for the topic and 'among' for the audience.

Word family

  • aware
    adjectiveB1
  • unaware
    adjectiveB2
  • self-aware
    adjectiveC1
  • self-awareness
    nounC1
  • awarely
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe what someone has in their mind, but they differ in depth and register. 'Awareness' is the lightest — it only means you know something exists or is happening, often because you noticed it or were told. 'Knowledge' is broader and stronger; it covers facts you have actually learned and can use, as in 'knowledge of Chinese history'. 'Understanding' goes one step further: you grasp how the parts fit together, e.g. 'a clear understanding of the new tax law'. 'Consciousness' is more formal and often abstract, used for moral or political alertness ('environmental consciousness') or for the medical sense of being awake. So a campaign 'raises awareness' (people notice the issue), schooling builds 'knowledge' (you learn the facts), reflection deepens 'understanding' (you see why it matters), and activism grows 'consciousness' (you commit to acting on it).

awareness ↗consciousness ↗knowledge ↗understanding ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • raise awareness of
  • increase public awareness
  • lack of awareness
  • a growing awareness that
  • a heightened awareness of
  • social/political/environmental awareness

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

'Awareness' is built from the adjective 'aware' plus the suffix '-ness', which turns adjectives into nouns naming a state. 'Aware' itself comes from Old English 'gewær', meaning 'watchful' or 'on guard', related to the same root as 'wary' and to German 'gewahr'. The noun 'awareness' is recorded from the late 1500s, first in the literal sense of 'being watchful', and broadened in modern English to cover any mental state of knowing that something exists or is happening, especially in fixed phrases like 'raise awareness'.