hyperaware

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *úp

Proto-Indo-European *-er

Proto-Indo-European *upér

Proto-Hellenic *(h)upér

Ancient Greek ῠ̔πέρ (hŭpér)

Ancient Greek ῠ̔περ- (hŭper-)der.

English hyper-

English aware

English hyperaware

From hyper- + aware.

Adjective

hyperaware (comparative more hyperaware, superlative most hyperaware)

1. Extremely aware; much more alert to stimuli than normal.

   Suddenly I was hyperaware of everything around me.

   • 1974, Joseph Berke, Calvin C. Hernton, The Cannabis Experience‎^[1], →ISBN, page 95:

     For example, the smoker may become hyperaware of all or part of his body, of all or part of his mind.

   • 1994 September 20, Michiko Kakutani, “The Examined Life Is Not Worth Living Either”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 March 2025:

     But Ms. Wurtzel herself is hyperaware of the narcissistic nature of her problems, and her willingness to expose herself—narcissism and all—ultimately wins the reader over.

   • 2022 August 24, Peter Bradshaw, “Mr Malcolm’s List review – Regency romcom served with cake-icing of irony”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[3], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 October 2026:

     It is all played absolutely straight, and yet also with a cake-icing of irony, almost like a play by Ernie Wise: observing the decorum, yet also hyperaware of both the surreal bizarreness of its conventions and the deadly seriousness in which they are traditionally represented.

Derived terms

• hyperawareness