Dictionary

conceive en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /kənˈsiːv/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English conceyven, from Old French concevoir, conceveir, from Latin concipiō, concipere (“to devise, to conceive”).

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To have a child; to become pregnant (with).
   • She hath also conceived a son in her old age. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:36:
   • Assisted procreation can help those trying to conceive.
2. (transitive) To develop; to form in the mind; to imagine.
   • It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life. 1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:
   • At the mouth of the cave we found a single litter with six bearers, all of them mutes, waiting, and with them I was relieved to see our old friend Billali, for whom I had conceived a sort of affection. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • There are, moreover, grounds for thinking that the Rosaline of Love’s Labour’s Lost was originally conceived of by Shakespeare as pale with black eyes—... 1890, Thomas Tyler, Shakespeare's Sonnets, D. Nutt, page 81:
   • The car cost $700 initially. The subsequent cost was mounting out of sight, but I had conceived an extraordinary fondness for the bug, and my sother had conceived an extraordinary fondness for me, so she allowed my passion for the car to ransack our savings. 1980 December 6, Nancy Walker, “Toodle-Oo, Doodle”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 12:
3. (ambitransitive, ditransitive, with-of) To imagine (as); to have a conception of; to form a representation of.
   • We shall, / As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount / Before you, Lepidus. c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals), page 4:
   • […]you will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the ſame Climate […] 1731 (date written), Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “An Introduction to the Following Treatise”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, […], London: […] B[enjamin] Motte […], published 1738, →OCLC, page lxii:
   • Remember, if you please, that the man you call slave sprang from the same seed, enjoys the same daylight, breathes like you, lives like you, dies like you. You can as easily conceive him a free man as he can conceive you a slave. 2008 [c. 65 CE], Seneca the Younger, “Letter on Slaves”, in Andrew Bailey et al., editors, The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, volume 1, →ISBN, page 258:
   • Can you conceive of him as a leader?
   • Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so. 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
4. (transitive) To understand (someone).
   • I conceive you. 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 3, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

foreconceive · nonconceiving · conceivability · preconceive · misconceive · conceiver · conceivable · malconceived · unconceiving · unconceived · reconceive · coconceive

Relateds

concept · conception

Translations (116)

mi tinaku (to become pregnant) · uk заду́мувати (to develop an idea) · ko 이해하다 (to understand someone) · cmn 懷孕 /怀孕 (to become pregnant) · zdj urenga hamili (to become pregnant) · de ersinnen (to develop an idea) · enm conceyven (to understand someone) · tr gebe kalmak (to become pregnant) · fi tulla raskaaksi (to become pregnant) · de erdenken (to develop an idea) · cmn 懷 /怀 (to become pregnant) · es concebir (to understand someone) · hu kigondol (to develop an idea) · de empfangen (to understand someone) · hu elgondol (to develop an idea) · bg замислям (to develop an idea) · eo gravediĝi (to become pregnant) · nb unnfange (to develop an idea) · cmn 理解 (to understand someone) · cmn 有喜 (to become pregnant) · ru зача́ть (to become pregnant) · mi whakaira tangata (to become pregnant) · fi kehitellä (to develop an idea) · cs pochopit (to understand someone) · et käsitama (to understand someone) · es concebir (to develop an idea) · sq krijoj (to develop an idea) · el καταλαβαίνω (to understand someone) · it concepire (to develop an idea) · cs chápat (to understand someone) · bg разбирам (to understand someone) · ar حَبِلَ (to become pregnant) · tr yaratmak (to develop an idea) · cs vymyslet (to develop an idea) · pt conceber (to develop an idea) · fi suunnitella (to develop an idea) · uk завагі́тніти (to become pregnant) · de empfangen (to become pregnant) · hu megért (to understand someone) · uga 𐎅𐎗𐎊 (to become pregnant) · ja 思い付く (to develop an idea) · el αντιλαμβάνομαι (to understand someone) · hu teherbe esik (to become pregnant) · ko 임신하다 (to become pregnant) · eo koncipi (to become pregnant) · fi ymmärtää (to understand someone) · fr concevoir (to develop an idea) · cs formulovat (to develop an idea) · sh shvatiti (to understand someone) · ru бере́менеть (to become pregnant) · sq mendoj (to develop an idea) · wlc urenga mimba (to become pregnant) · nb unnfange (to become pregnant) · it sviluppare (to develop an idea) · it concepire (to understand someone) · nl zwanger worden (to become pregnant) · es concebir (to become pregnant) · da forstå (to understand someone) · de verstehen (to understand someone) · el συλλαμβάνω (to become pregnant) · hy հղիանալ (to become pregnant) · la concipiō (to develop an idea) · la teneo (to understand someone) · sh zamisliti (to develop an idea) · tr hamile kalmak (to become pregnant) · ru забере́менеть (to become pregnant) · la imaginor (to develop an idea) · cs koncipovat (to develop an idea) · nl begrijpen (to understand someone) · sl zanositi (to become pregnant) · cmn 設想 /设想 (to develop an idea) · cs počít (to become pregnant) · hu kitalál (to develop an idea) · cmn 構想 /构想 (to develop an idea) · ar خَرَجَ بِ (to develop an idea) · it ideare (to develop an idea) · el διανοούμαι (to develop an idea) · pt compreender (to understand someone) · enm conceyven (to become pregnant) · et rasestuma (to become pregnant) · ko 마음에 품다 (to develop an idea) · uk розумі́ти (to understand someone) · nl krijgen (to develop an idea) · da undfange (to become pregnant) · ru замышлять (to develop an idea) · eo koncepti (to develop an idea) · sh začeti (to become pregnant) · hy հղանալ (to develop an idea) · ru понима́ть (to understand someone) · el μένω έγκυος (to become pregnant) · pt conceber (to become pregnant) · fr concevoir (to become pregnant) · enm conceyven (to develop an idea) · ja 孕む (to become pregnant) · it concepire (to become pregnant) · cy beichiogi (to become pregnant) · hu elképzel (to develop an idea) · de konzipieren (to develop an idea) · tl maglihi (to become pregnant) · bg схващам (to understand someone) · de schwanger werden (to become pregnant) · gl argallar (to develop an idea) · egy E9-wr:r-B2 (to become pregnant) · ja 妊娠する (to become pregnant) · hu kieszel (to develop an idea) · bg забременя́вам (to become pregnant) · tr anlamak (to understand someone) · bg забремене́я (to become pregnant) · mi tō (to become pregnant) · cmn 懂 (to understand someone) · el εννοώ (to understand someone) · el συλλαμβάνω (to develop an idea) · cs otěhotnět (to become pregnant) · hu kiagyal (to develop an idea) · fr tomber enceinte (to become pregnant) · ca concebre (to develop an idea)