Aware

//əˈwɛə(ɹ)// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make (someone) aware of something. nonstandard, transitive

    "Conſcience is the director of all our actions, and diſcriminates them all, with the intentions of our hearts; awares us of the crime of the one, and the virtue of the other."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Vigilant or on one's guard against danger or difficulty.

    "Stay aware! Don't let your guard down."

  2. 2
    Conscious or having knowledge of something; awake.

    "Are you aware of what is being said about you?"

Adjective
  1. 1
    (sometimes followed by ‘of’) having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception wordnet
  2. 2
    bearing in mind; attentive to wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
apprisedcognizantmindfulacquaintedacuteadvertent

Example

More examples

"If you don't understand something, it's because you aren't aware of its context."

Etymology

From Middle English aware, iwar, iware, ywar, from Old English ġewær (“aware”), from Proto-West Germanic *gawar, from Proto-Germanic *waraz (“aware, cautious”), from Proto-Indo-European *worós (“attentive”), from *wer- (“to heed; watch out”). Cognate with Dutch gewaar, German gewahr, Danish var, Swedish var, Icelandic varr.

Related phrases

locale-awarelocale-awarenessself-awareself-awarenesswell awarewell-awarewell-awareness

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.