anoetic
|an-o-et-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌænəˈɛtɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌænəʊˈɛtɪk/
without reflective awareness
Etymology
'anoetic' originates from New Latin/Modern scientific English, ultimately built from the Greek prefix 'a-' meaning 'not' and the adjective 'noētikos' (νοητικός) meaning 'intellectual' or 'pertaining to thought' (from nōēsis, νοήσις 'thinking, perception').
'anoetic' developed by prefixing Greek-derived 'noetic' with the privative 'a-' in post-Latin/modern scientific coinage; 'noētikos' (Greek) -> Latin/Medieval adaptations -> English 'noetic' -> modern formation 'anoetic'.
Initially formed simply to mean 'not noetic' or 'not intellectual', it has come to be used in specialized psychology/neuroscience contexts to denote experiences or memory states that lack explicit, self-referential awareness.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
anoesis: the state or quality of being anoetic (i.e., lacking explicit, reflective awareness).
Researchers described the phenomenon as anoesis, noting preserved performance without conscious recollection.
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Adjective 1
relating to a form or state of consciousness that lacks explicit, reflective, or self-referential awareness; not involving deliberate or recollective thought (often used in psychology/neuroscience to describe memories or experiences without conscious recollection).
The patient's procedural learning remained intact, but his episodic recall was anoetic — he could perform tasks without consciously remembering learning them.
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Adverb 1
anoetically: in an anoetic manner; without conscious, reflective awareness.
He performed the sequence anoetically, with no conscious memory of having learned it.
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Last updated: 2025/08/17 14:57