Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An opinion or conception formed in advance of adequate knowledge or experience, especially a prejudice or bias.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A conception or opinion formed in advance of experience or actual knowledge; also, the influence of previous belief or states of mind in modifying the conceptions formed under the partial influence of experience.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of preconceiving; conception or opinion previously formed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An opinion formed before obtaining adequate evidence, especially as the result of bias or prejudice.
  • noun A prejudice that prevents rational consideration of an issue.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence
  • noun a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In other words their argument rests on a certain preconception of God.

    Critical Thinking Exercise: Bad Design 2010

  • It's about a certain preconception of what is possible, looking at objects from a different angle, and a certain conception about the unknown.

    Ancestral Expression Patterns 2007

  • It's about a certain preconception of what is possible, looking at objects from a different angle, and a certain conception about the unknown.

    Another predictable argument against front-loading 2007

  • The preconception is that there is design and that design can be discovered.

    Confirmation Bias and ID 2006

  • The preconception is that there is design and that design can be discovered.

    Confirmation Bias and ID 2006

  • Once again facts show that a Republican preconception is not bounded in either science, methodology or facts.

    Think Progress » Protest Turnout: A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Lies 2005

  • One "preconception" I have, based on the the Book of Revelation itself, is that it in the first instance referred to the Roman Empire and the time in which it was written and their immediate future.

    The Two Witnesses James F. McGrath 2008

  • (Your comment) One "preconception" I have, based on the Book of Revelation itself, is that it in the first instance referred to the Roman Empire and the time in which it was written (and their immediate future).

    The Two Witnesses James F. McGrath 2008

  • He is simply repeating his "preconception" while refusing to learn.

    College professor: "Flunk the IDiots" 2006

  • As many pictures as have been given of my father, how like him soever in different airs and attitudes, — not one, or all of them, can ever help the reader to any kind of preconception of how my father would think, speak, or act, upon any untried occasion or occurrence of life. —

    The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman 2003

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