Aware Meaning
/əˈwɛə̯/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjVigilant or on one's guard against danger or difficulty.
adjConscious or having knowledge of something; awake.
Sentence Examples
If you don't understand something, it's because you aren't aware of its context.
Are you aware of how much she loves you?
Teachers need to be aware of cultural differences.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He was not ____ of the danger lurking behind the door.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Are you ____ that the meeting has been moved to a later time today?.
Word Origin & History
Inherited 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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"“[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"The guard was paying no attention whatever to the running of his train, in total disregard of rules, and, as the recently-published report of a Ministry of Transport Inspecting Officer of Railways shows, there were other disquieting features in the case, such as ignorance on the part of responsible men of rules and appendix instructions and a lax attitude to regulations of which they professed to be aware, combined with failure to look at staff notice boards."
— 1956 September, “Notes and News: The Barby Sidings Accident Report”, in Railway Magazine, page 638:
"Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of."
— 2025 April 28, Ross Douthat, Nick Adams, “Condition of America”, in New Left Review, number 152, →ISSN:
"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."
— 1799, William Earle, Junior, Natural Faults: A Comedy, in Five Acts, London: […] sold by Earle and Hemet […], [Act II, scene i], page 17:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He was not ____ of the danger lurking behind the door.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Are you ____ that the meeting has been moved to a later time today?.