Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To become pregnant with (offspring).
- v. To form or develop in the mind; devise: conceive a plan to increase profits.
- v. To apprehend mentally; understand: couldn't conceive the meaning of that sentence.
- v. To be of the opinion that; think: didn't conceive such a tragedy could occur.
- v. To begin or originate in a specific way: a political movement conceived in the ferment of the 1960s.
- v. To form or hold an idea: Ancient peoples conceived of the earth as flat.
- v. To become pregnant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To apprehend in the mind; form a distinct and correct notion of, or a notion which is not absurd: as, we cannot conceive an effect without a cause.
- To form as a general notion in the mind; represent in a general notion or conception in the mind; hence, design; plan; devise.
- To hold as an opinion; think; suppose; believe.
- To admit into the mind; have a sense or impression of; feel; experience.
- To formulate in words; express: as, he received a letter conceived in the following terms.
- To understand.
- To become pregnant with; bring into existence in the womb in an embryonic state.
- To generate; give rise to; bring into existence.
- To take in a mental image; have or form a conception or idea; have apprehension; think: with of.
- To hold an opinion: with of.
- To understand.
- To become pregnant.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To develop an idea.
- v. transitive To understand someone.
- v. To become pregnant.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To receive into the womb and begin to breed; to begin the formation of the embryo of.
- v. To form in the mind; to plan; to devise; to generate; to originate.
- v. To apprehend by reason or imagination; to take into the mind; to know; to imagine; to comprehend; to understand.
- v. To have an embryo or fetus formed in the womb; to breed; to become pregnant.
- v. To have a conception, idea, or opinion; think; -- with
of .
WordNet 3.0
- v. become pregnant; undergo conception
- v. have the idea for
- v. judge or regard; look upon; judge.
Etymologies
- From Middle English conceiven, from Old French concevoir, concever, from Latin concipere ("to take"), from con- ("together") + capio ("to take"). Compare deceive, perceive, receive. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English conceiven, from Old French concevoir, conceiv-, from Latin concipere : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + capere, to take; see kap- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Therefore, as a precautionary measure, our advice to pregnant women and women trying to conceive is to avoid alcohol.”
The Guardian: Light drinking during pregnancy 'does children no harm'
“And what do you conceive is the “just reward []” for giving a cop the middle finger?”
“Stick with the current recommendations for Folic Acid intake, which in pregnancy and in women trying to conceive is 400 ug daily.”
“Human beings can, in short, conceive of and create change; we can use our minds to reframe, to see things in a better light.”
Dr. Tian Dayton: Anxiety: What We Have in Common with Baboons
“Toronto gave me no instructions, but I went on record there, practically in line with our present Leader of the Opposition at Ottawa, that we should present immediately ships and, if necessary, men and money, so that the crisis which I conceive is very near at hand, should be met by us as Canadian citizens and as citizens of the Empire.”
“How she contrives, with such opinions or no opinions, to keep herself so serene and cheerful, I am perplexed to conceive: is it the old story of the 'cork going safely over the falls of Niagara, where everything weightier would sink?”
“The situation, we conceive, is one which, if for a moment good sense and good feeling could come into play between the contending parties, might be turned to advantage.”
“If he had not the sterner nobility of purpose which made the first of his name conceive and partially carry into effect the ideal reign of justice which was the first want of his kingdom, he had yet a noble ambition for Scotland to make her honoured and feared and famous, and the success with which he seems to have carried out this object of his life for many years was great.”
“I can: the word conceive, therefore, is here used to express the recognition of a matter of fact — the perception of truth or falsehood; which I apprehend to be exactly the meaning of an act of belief, as distinguished from simple conception.”
“The child she shall conceive is a holy thing, and therefore must not be conceived by ordinary generation, because he must not share in the common corruption and pollution of the human nature.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘conceive’.
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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EN - eesily missspellable wirds
accessible, accommodate, achievement, acquaintance, address, advertisement, alleged, athletics, attendance, auxiliary, believe, challenge and 118 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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a beginners' list
a beginner's list should be about novices and all those that start on new journeys
noob, beginner, new, left foot, threshold, dawn, start, go, adventurer, undeterred, brave, foolish and 61 more...
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my list
conceive, ponder, hypocrite, vested, monogamy, senile, contemporarie, eternity, Hippocrates, conception, obsession, fable and 8 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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my list
executive, oxide, slang, paddy, calamity, pledge, carved, deliberate, vastly, tolerate, simultaneous, ornamental and 114 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Learned words
Words which are highly likely to be found in the work of learned writers.
ailurophile, labyrinthine, lagniappe, colleague, anechoic, reglets, fluctuations, scalar, implicit, constitute, mortification, ambassadors and 629 more...
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Intellectual masturbation
descant, leitmotif, scrumptious, adroit, diatribe, sesquipedalian, tatterdemalion, succulent, carnal, chicane, reminisce, paraphernalia and 147 more...
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Nullologue
nullologue, vaudeville, debauchery, debauched, libertine, nothing, dhadak, tz pf, nothingology, goodbyeology, sharmuta, manifesto and 874 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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My Personnal Words List on WordNik
Eloquence, dismay, abolish, Procrastination, hallowed, Audacity, provision, flue gas, perceive, aprodith, cult, mischief and 136 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for conceive.
Kristianto2010 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. Luke 1:31, 32a Dec 20, 2010