conception
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English concepcioun, borrowed from Old French conception, from Latin conceptiō (“a comprehending, a collection, composition, an expression, also a becoming pregnant”), from concipiō, past participle conceptus (“conceive”); see conceive.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
conception (countable and uncountable, plural conceptions)
- The act of conceiving.
- The state of being conceived; the beginning.
- The fertilization of an ovum by a sperm to form a zygote.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi:
- Some powers diuine, or els infernall, mixt
Their angry ſeedes at his conception:
For he was neuer ſprong of humaine race,
Since with the ſpirit of his fearefull pride,
He dares so doubtleſly reſolue of rule.
- The start of pregnancy.
- The formation of a conceptus or an implanted embryo.
- The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception; the ability to form mental abstractions.
- c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:
- What the school books say about the united efforts of the two great Rossums is all a fairy tale. They used to have dreadful rows. The old atheist hadn't the slightest conception of industrial matters, and the end of it was that young Rossum shut him up in some laboratory or other and let him fritter the time away with his monstrosities, while he himself started on the business from an engineer's point of view.
- An image, idea, or notion formed in the mind; a concept, plan or design.
- 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, pages 250–251:
- Elegant brick and stone buildings, with iron and glass canopies and decorative wooden scalloping and fencing—all evidencing care on the part of the architect to produce a pleasing, well-planned building—were submerged beneath a profusion of ill-conceived additions and camouflaged by vulgar paint schemes; and the original conception was lost.
Antonyms edit
Coordinate terms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
initiation of an embryonic animal life
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the power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind
an image, idea, or notion formed in the mind — see also concept
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See also edit
References edit
- “conception”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “conception”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Old French conception, concepcion, borrowed from Latin conceptiōnem (“comprehension, understanding”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
conception f (plural conceptions)
- conception (of a child)
- conception (beginning, start)
- ability to understand
- viewpoint; angle
- concept, idea
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “conception”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin conceptio, conceptionem (“comprehension, understanding”).
Noun edit
conception oblique singular, f (oblique plural conceptions, nominative singular conception, nominative plural conceptions)
- conception (of a child)
- 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine):
- Et sont retenus naturellement comme en concepcion
- And they [menses] are naturally retained in the case of conception
Descendants edit
- → Middle English: concepcioun, concepcion, concepciun, concepcyon, consepcioun
- English: conception
- French: conception