'Conception' definitions:
Definition of 'conception'
From: WordNet
noun
An abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances [syn: concept, conception, construct] [ant: misconception]
noun
The act of becoming pregnant; fertilization of an ovum by a spermatozoon
noun
The event that occurred at the beginning of something; "from its creation the plan was doomed to failure" [syn: creation, conception]
noun
The creation of something in the mind [syn: invention, innovation, excogitation, conception, design]
Definition of 'Conception'
From: GCIDE
- Conception \Con*cep"tion\, n. [F. conception, L. conceptio, fr. concipere to conceive. See Conceive.]
- 1. 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. --Gen. iii. 16. [1913 Webster]
- 2. The state of being conceived; beginning. [1913 Webster]
- Joy had the like conception in our eyes. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 3. 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. --Stewart. [1913 Webster]
- 4. 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. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]
- 5. 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. --Whewell. [1913 Webster]
- 6. Idea; purpose; design. [1913 Webster]
- Note this dangerous conception. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 7. Conceit; affected sentiment or thought. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- He . . . is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticism. --Dryden.
- Syn: Idea; notion; perception; apprehemsion; comprehension. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'conception'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abstract thought,
- act of thought,
- appreciation,
- apprehension,
- approach,
- arrangement,
- artistic imagination,
- assumption,
- attack,
- attitude,
- authorship,
- beginning,
- birth,
- blueprint,
- blueprinting,
- brain,
- brains,
- brainwork,
- calculation,
- caliber,
- Calliope,
- capacity,
- cerebration,
- charting,
- clairvoyance,
- climate of opinion,
- Clio,
- 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,
- Erato,
- esemplastic imagination,
- esemplastic power,
- esprit,
- estimate,
- estimation,
- ethos,
- Euterpe,
- 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,
- IQ,
- judgment,
- knowledge,
- launch,
- launching,
- layout,
- lifelike image,
- lights,
- lineup,
- long-range plan,
- making do,
- mapping,
- master plan,
- mastery,
- Melpomene,
- 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,
- Polyhymnia,
- 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,
- Terpsichore,
- Thalia,
- the big picture,
- the picture,
- theory,
- thinking,
- thinking aloud,
- thinking out,
- thinking power,
- thought,
- understanding,
- Vernunft,
- view,
- vision,
- visionary,
- visual image,
- visualization,
- Vorstellung,
- way,
- way of thinking,
- wisdom,
- wit,
- word-painting,
- working plan