foreconsciousadj.n.
/ˈfɔːˌkɒnʃəs/, U.S. /ˈfɔrˌkɑnʃəs/ Psychology.
Pertaining to that part of the mind, below the threshold of immediate conscious attention, whose memories and perceptions can re-enter the conscious field; = preconscious adj. Also as n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > mind below consciousness > [noun]
preconscious1913
foreconscious1915
preconsciousness1920
1915 T. L. Stedman Pract. Med. Dict. (ed. 3) 348/1 Fore-conscious, noting an unconscious mental process which becomes conscious only on the fulfillment of certain conditions.
1917 C. R. Payne tr. O. Pfister Psychoanalytic Method iii. 47 Freud distinguishes foreconscious ideas which lack only the conscious investment of energy, from the real unconscious, but attributes to this distinction more practical than theoretical value.
1920 T. P. Nunn Education (1923) 49 The complex may be on the ‘fore-conscious’ level—that is the ideas belonging to its activity, though forgotten, may be capable of being recalled.
1921 Sat. Westm. Gaz. 1 Oct. 16/2 The fore-conscious or marginal region of the mind.
1924 E. E. Cummings Let. 27 Feb. (1969) 105 Many voices answer..but not mine because gas-bill flashed thru our hero's foreconscious.
1942 J. G. Miller Unconsciousness i. 20 Preconscious and foreconscious. These are psychoanalytic terms used synonymously.
1957 R. L. Munroe Schools of Psychoanalyt. Thought ii. iii. 82 The perceptual conscious is what we are actually aware of at any given moment. This rather narrow field extends into the preconscious or foreconscious (the terms are interchangeable), which includes the host of immediate perceptions and memories available to us if our attention requires them.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1915