əˈwa(a)(ə)r, -we(ə)r, -wa(a)ə, -weə adjective
Etymology: Middle English iwar, from Old English gewær, from ge- (collective prefix) + wær wary — more at co- , wary
1. archaic : on guard : watchful , vigilant
are you all aware of … talebearing and evil-speaking — John Wesley
2.
a. : marked by realization, perception, or knowledge : conscious , sensible , cognizant
he was never fully aware of the extent of his failures — O.S.Nock
Adams was aware that the arrival of the tea ships might be used to precipitate a crisis — C.L.Becker
b. : showing heightened perception and ready comprehension and appreciation : informed , knowing , alert
the most intellectually ambitious and the most technically aware of the novelists under thirty — W.S.Graham
Synonyms:
cognizant , conscious , sensible , alive , awake : aware may indicate either general information, wide knowledge, interpretative power, or vigilant perception
few, so far as I am aware, now claim the free speech to call a knave a knave — T.S.Eliot
more widely aware of the phenomena of biological chemistry — Sinclair Lewis
Americans are becoming aware that American destiny can be pursued only in a world framework — Max Lerner
cognizant may imply the gradual impingement of knowledge or perception on one's consciousness or may connote special efforts to know
Soapy's mind became cognizant of the fact — O.Henry
through the servants, or from some other means, he had made himself cognizant of the projected elopement — Anthony Trollope
It may imply arch knowingness
“ah!” went the other eyeing Ripton in lordly cognizant style — George Meredith
conscious may indicate impingement on one's mind so that one recognizes the fact or existence of something
dimly conscious that Hallward was speaking to him but not catching the meaning of the words — Oscar Wilde
It may also indicate an extreme and dominating realization, even a preoccupation
what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time — T.S.Eliot
sensible may apply to situations in which a thing is intuitively sensed and also to those in which it is rationally perceived, known, and admitted
for my part, though deeply sensible of its influence, I cannot seize it — Nathaniel Hawthorne
I am sensible that I write you short letters but I write you all I know — Horace Walpole
It is often used to indicate awareness and acknowledgment of gratitude, pleasure, resentment, or pain
I am sensible I may be indebted to you, sir — Charles Dickens
alive may suggest vivid awareness, certain keen perception
Cromwell … was keenly alive to all that concerned England's honor and strength — A.T.Mahan
these two had a certain cool judgment, and they were fully alive to the danger of thwarting Barbara — John Galsworthy
awake may suggest alert perception
a large number of her [Britain's] leaders seem awake to the saving qualities of compromise — Leland Stowe