aware

aware, cognizant, conscious, sensible, alive, awake mean having knowledge of something, especially of something that for some reason is not obvious or apparent to all.

One is aware of something through information or through one’s own vigilance in observing or in drawing inferences from what one sees, hears, or feels

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few, so far as I am aware, now claim the free speech to call a knave a knave— T. S. Eliot

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would not . . . have been worthy of his reputation had he not been aware . . . of the existence of this League. Journalists have to be aware of such things— Rose Macaulay

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Americans were becoming aware that American destiny can be pursued only in a world framework— Lerner

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One who is cognizant of something has had it called to his attention or has become aware of it through his own powers of observation; in careful use the word commonly implies firsthand or certain knowledge

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he is not, as yet, fully cognizant of the facts

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through the servants, or from other means, he had made himself cognizant of the projected elopement— Trollope

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One is conscious of something that he sees, hears, feels, or apprehends when he allows it to enter his mind so that he recognizes its existence or fixes his attention on it; thus, one may or may not be conscious of his heartbeat or of someone passing through the room

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he stood there motionless and in wonder, dimly conscious that Hallward was speaking to him— Wilde

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to be happy or miserable without being conscious of it seems to me utterly inconsistent and impossible— Locke

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lifelong short-sightedness . . . of which he has never ceased to be conscious— Ellis

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One is sensible of something who through intuitive feeling or a rational perception realizes its existence

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she was disturbing him extremely . . . but he was much too sensible of her goodwill to wound her feelings by telling her so— Mackenzie

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even he was sensible of the decorous atmosphere— Joyce

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One who is alive to something is acutely susceptible to its influence or sensible of its existence

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the Spring finds thee not less alive to her sweet force than yonder upstarts— Cowper

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they were fully alive to the danger of thwarting Barbara— Galsworthy

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One who is awake to something is aroused to it or on the alert for developments

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the country is not awake to the potential evils of a strict censorship

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Analogous words: *sure, certain, positive: informed, acquainted, apprised (see INFORM)

Antonyms: unaware

Contrasted words: insensible, insensitive, impassible, anesthetic: ignorant