collective unconscious

noun

: the inherited part of the unconscious that especially in the psychoanalytic theory of Carl Gustav Jung occurs in and is shared by all the members of a people or race

Examples of collective unconscious in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Saved Stories Few faces have burned deeper into the collective unconscious than Nicolas Cage’s. —David Sims, The Atlantic, 7 Nov. 2023

Jung believed that these archetypes are part of the collective unconscious, shared by individuals across cultures and generations. —Dan Serard, Rolling Stone, 19 Oct. 2023

If Cage has somehow not yet managed to worm his way into our collective unconscious, Dream Scenario is a cinch to seal the deal. —Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Sep. 2023

In other words, Bond is a reflection of the collective unconscious idea of badassery, personified. —Paul Schrodt, Vulture, 23 June 2023

Rather, each generation invents new yokai, many of them channeling a collective unconscious of present-day anxieties. —Hikari Hida, New York Times, 16 Apr. 2023

To see two generations of teen idol turned arthouse star, their striking bone structures repurposed for camp villainy, feels a bit like a joke about the barbarism at the heart of our civilization, how both crude and sophisticated are the tastes expressed by our collective unconscious. —Lidija Haas, The New Republic, 7 Aug. 2020

Rivers emptying into vast oceans, the wide unknowable of the collective unconscious. —Emily Newhouse, Allure, 6 Mar. 2023

The sitcom, which ran 1951-57, is more than beloved: It’s become part of our collective unconscious. —Tim Gray, Variety, 27 Jan. 2022

Word History

Etymology

translation of German kollektives Unbewusstes

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

collective unconscious

noun

col·​lec·​tive unconscious kə-ˈlek-tiv- 

: the genetically determined part of the unconscious that especially in the psychoanalytic theory of C. G. Jung occurs in all the members of a people or race