conception

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: con=cep=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

conception, n. [F. conception, L. conceptio, fr. concipere to conceive. See Conceive.].

•  The act of conceiving in the womb; the initiation of an embryonic animal life.  [1913 Webster]

  "I will greaty multiply thy sorrow and thy conception."  [1913 Webster]
•  The state of being conceived; beginning.  [1913 Webster]

  "Joy had the like conception in our eyes."  [1913 Webster]
•  The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception.  [1913 Webster]

  "Under the article of conception, I shall confine myself to that faculty whose province it is to enable us to form a notion of our past sensations, or of the objects of sense that we have formerly perceived."  [1913 Webster]
•  The formation in the mind of an image, idea, or notion, apprehension.  [1913 Webster]

  "Conception consists in a conscious act of the understanding, bringing any given object or impression into the same class with any number of other objects or impression, by means of some character or characters common to them all."  [1913 Webster]
•  The image, idea, or notion of any action or thing which is formed in the mind; a concept; a notion; a universal; the product of a rational belief or judgment. See Concept.  [1913 Webster]

  "He [Herodotus] says that the sun draws or attracts the water; a metaphorical term obviously intended to denote some more general and abstract conception than that of the visible operation which the word primarily signifies."  [1913 Webster]
•  Idea; purpose; design.  [1913 Webster]

  "Note this dangerous conception."  [1913 Webster]
•  Conceit; affected sentiment or thought.  [1913 Webster]

  "He . . . is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticism."

Syn. -- Idea; notion; perception; apprehemsion; comprehension.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

conception, n.
1 the act or an instance of conceiving; the process of being conceived.
2 an idea or plan, esp. as being new or daring (the whole conception showed originality).

Idiom

no conception of an inability to imagine.

Derivative

conceptional adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L conceptio -onis (as concept)

THESAURUS

conception

Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, IQ, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Vernunft, Vorstellung, abstract thought, act of thought, appreciation, apprehension, approach, arrangement, artistic imagination, assumption, attack, attitude, authorship, beginning, birth, blueprint, blueprinting, brain, brains, brainwork, calculation, caliber, capacity, cerebration, charting, clairvoyance, climate of opinion, clue, cogitation, coinage, coming with child, command, commencement, common belief, community sentiment, comprehension, conceit, conceiving, concept, conceptualization, conclusion, concoction, consensus gentium, consideration, contrivance, contriving, creation, creative effort, creative imagination, creative power, creative thought, deductive power, derivation, design, device, devising, discourse of reason, discursive reason, disposition, eidetic image, emergence, enterprise, envisagement, envisaging, envisioning, esemplastic imagination, esemplastic power, esprit, estimate, estimation, ethos, excogitation, eye, fabrication, fancy, feeling, figuring, foreknowledge, foresight, forethought, formation, formulation, game, general belief, generation, genesis, genius, graphing, grasp, grass roots, gray matter, grip, ground plan, guidelines, hatching, head, headpiece, headwork, heavy thinking, idea, ideation, image, imageless thought, imagery, imagery study, imaging, imagism, imagistic poetry, imago, impression, improvisation, inauguration, inception, initiation, inkling, inspiration, integrative power, intellect, intellection, intellectual exercise, intellectual faculty, intellectual grasp, intellectual object, intellectual power, intellectualism, intellectuality, intellectualization, intelligence, intelligence quotient, intention, introduction, invention, judgment, knowledge, launch, launching, layout, lifelike image, lights, lineup, long-range plan, making do, mapping, master plan, mastery, memory-trace, mens, mental act, mental age, mental capacity, mental grasp, mental image, mental impression, mental labor, mental picture, mental process, mental ratio, mental representation, mentality, mentation, method, methodology, mind, mintage, mother wit, muse, mystique, mythicization, mythification, mythopoeia, native wit, noesis, notion, nous, objectification, observation, operations research, opinion, organization, origin, original, origination, outline, perception, personal judgment, picture, picturing, plan, planning, planning function, poetic imagery, poetic imagination, point of view, popular belief, position, posture, power of mind, power of reason, prearrangement, precognition, prehension, presumption, prevailing belief, procedure, program, program of action, proposal, provenience, psyche, public belief, public opinion, radical, radix, ratio, ratiocination, rationality, rationalization, reaction, reason, reasoning, reasoning faculty, reasoning power, recept, reflection, representation, rise, root, sanity, savvy, schedule, schema, schematism, schematization, scheme, scheme of arrangement, scope of mind, sense, sentiment, setup, shaping imagination, sight, smarts, source, stance, start, stem, stock, straight thinking, strategic plan, strategy, superfetation, superimpregnation, supposition, system, systematization, tactical plan, tactics, taproot, the big picture, the picture, theory, thinking, thinking aloud, thinking out, thinking power, thought, understanding, view, vision, visionary, visual image, visualization, way, way of thinking, wisdom, wit, word-painting, working plan

ROGET THESAURUS

conception

Intellect

N intellect, mind, understanding, reason, thinking principle, rationality, cogitative faculties, cognitive faculties, discursive faculties, reasoning faculties, intellectual faculties, faculties, senses, consciousness, observation, percipience, intelligence, intellection, intuition, association of ideas, instinct, conception, judgment, wits, parts, capacity, intellectuality, genius, brains, cognitive powers, intellectual powers, wit, ability, wisdom, Vernunft, Verstand, soul, spirit, ghost, inner man, heart, breast, bosom, penetralia mentis, divina particula aurae, heart's core, the Absolute, psyche, subliminal consciousness, supreme principle, brain, organ of thought, seat of thought, sensorium, sensory, head, headpiece, pate, noddle, noggin, skull, scull, pericranium, cerebrum, cranium, brainpan, sconce, upper story, central processing unit, CPU, arithmetic and logical unit, ALU, metaphysics, psychics, psychology, ideology, mental philosophy, moral philosophy, philosophy of the mind, pneumatology, phrenology, craniology, cranioscopy, ideality, idealism, transcendentalism, spiritualism, immateriality, universal concept, universal conception, metaphysician, psychologist, intellectual, mental, rational, subjective, metaphysical, nooscopic, spiritual, ghostly, psychical, psychological, cerebral, animastic, brainy, hyperphysical, superphysical, subconscious, subliminal, immaterial, endowed with reason, in petto, ens rationis, frons est animi janua, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, mens sola loco non exulat, my mind is my kingdom, stern men with empires in their brains, the mind, the music breathing from her face, thou living ray of intellectual Fire.

Idea

N idea, notion, conception, thought, apprehension, impression, perception, image, eidolon, sentiment, reflection, observation, consideration, abstract idea, archetype, formative notion, guiding conception, organizing conception, image in the mind, regulative principle, view, theory, conceit, fancy, phantasy, point of view, field of view.

Belief

N belief, credence, credit, assurance, faith, trust, troth, confidence, presumption, sanguine expectation, dependence on, reliance on, persuasion, conviction, convincement, plerophory, self- conviction, certainty, opinion, mind, view, conception, thinking, impression, surmise, conclusion, tenet, dogma, principle, way of thinking, popular belief, firm belief, implicit belief, settled belief, fixed rooted deep- rooted belief, staunch belief, unshaken belief, steadfast belief, inveterate belief, calm belief, sober belief, dispassionate belief, impartial belief, well-founded belief, firm opinion, implicit opinion, settled opinion, fixed rooted deep-rooted opinion, staunch opinion, unshaken opinion, steadfast opinion, inveterate opinion, calm opinion, sober opinion, dispassionate opinion, impartial opinion, well-founded opinion, uberrima fides, system of opinions, school, doctrine, articles, canons, article of faith, declaration of faith, profession of faith, tenets, credenda, creed, thirty-nine articles, catechism, assent, propaganda, credibility, believing, certain, sure, assured, positive, cocksure, satisfied, confident, unhesitating, convinced, secure, under the impression, impressed with, imbued with, penetrated with, confiding, suspectless, unsuspecting, unsuspicious, void of suspicion, credulous, wedded to, believed, accredited, putative, unsuspected, worthy of, deserving of, commanding belief, credible, reliable, trustworthy, to be depended on, satisfactory, probably, fiducial, fiduciary, persuasive, impressive, relating to belief, doctrinal, in the opinion of, in the eyes of, me judice, meseems, methinks, to the best of one's belief, I dare say, I doubt not, I have no doubt, I am sure, sure enough, depend upon, rely upon it, be assured, rest assured, I'll warrant you, experto crede, fata viam invenient, Justitiae soror incorrupta Fides, live to explain thy doctrine by thy life, stands not within the prospect of belief, tarde quae credita laedunt credimus, vide et crede.

Imagination

N imagination, originality, invention, fancy, inspiration, verve, warm imagination, heated imagination, excited imagination, sanguine imagination, ardent imagination, fiery imagination, boiling imagination, wild imagination, bold imagination, daring imagination, playful imagination, lively imagination, fertile imagination, fancy, mind's eye, such stuff as dreams are made of, ideality, idealism, romanticism, utopianism, castle-building, dreaming, phrensy, frenzy, ecstasy, extasy, calenture, reverie, trance, day dream, golden dream, somnambulism, conception, Vorstellung, excogitation, a fine frenzy, cloudland, dreamland, flight of fancy, fumes of fancy, thick coming fancies, creation of the brain, coinage of the brain, imagery, conceit, maggot, figment, myth, dream, vision, shadow, chimera, phantasm, phantasy, fantasy, fancy, whim, whimsey, whimsy, vagary, rhapsody, romance, gest, geste, extravaganza, air drawn dagger, bugbear, nightmare, flying Dutchman, great sea serpent, man in the moon, castle in the air, pipe dream, pie-in-the-sky, chateau en Espagne, Utopia, Atlantis, happy valley, millennium, fairyland, land of Prester John, kindgom of Micomicon, work of fiction, Arabian nights, le pot au lait, dream of Alnashar, illusion, phantom, Fata Morgana, vapor, stretch of the imagination, mythogenesis, idealist, romanticist, visionary, mopus, romancer, dreamer, somnambulist, rhapsodist, castle-buildier, fanciful projector, imagined, ben trovato, air drawn, airbuilt, imagining, imaginative, original, inventive, creative, fertile, romantic, high flown, flighty, extravagant, fanatic, enthusiastic, unrealistic, Utopian, Quixotic, ideal, unreal, in the clouds, in nubibus, unsubsantial, illusory, fabulous, legendary, mythical, mythic, mythological, chimerical, imaginary, visionary, notional, fancy, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, whimsical, fairy, fairy-like, gestic, a change came o'er the spirit of my dream, aegri somnia vana, dolphinum appingit sylvis in fluctibus aprum, fancy light from fancy caught, imagination rules the world, l'imagination gallope, le jugement ne va que le pas, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore, tous songes sont mensonges, Wahrheil und Dichtung, DIVISION II COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS.