conceit

1 of 2

noun

con·​ceit kən-ˈsēt 

1

a

: favorable opinion

especially : excessive appreciation of one's own worth or virtue

… the landlord's conceit of his own superior knowledge …

—Adam Smith

b(1)

: a result of mental activity : thought

(2)

: individual opinion

2

a

: a fanciful idea

b

: an elaborate or strained metaphor

The poem abounds in metaphysical conceits.

c

: use or presence of such conceits in poetry

d

: an organizing theme or concept

… found his conceit for the film early …

—Peter Wilkinson

… the historian's conceit that the past is forever prologue …

—Leon V. Sigal

3

: a fancy item or trifle

Conceits were fancy desserts, made either of sugar … or pastry.

—Francie Owen

conceit

2 of 2

verb

conceited; conceiting; conceits

transitive verb

1

chiefly dialectal : imagine

2

dialectal British : to take a fancy to

3

obsolete : conceive, understand

Synonyms

Noun

• metaphor

Verb

• conceive
• conjure (up)
• dream
• envisage
• envision
• fancy
• fantasize
• fantasy
• feature
• ideate
• image
• imagine
• picture
• see
• vision
• visualize

Examples of conceit in a Sentence

Noun

His conceit has earned him many enemies.

the conceit that the crowd at the outdoor rock concert was a vast sea of people waving to the beat of the music

Verb

after a huge meal like that, I cannot conceit eating another thing for the rest of the day

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Making savvy use of that thriller conceit, Tolkin’s wildly entertaining first novel offers a front-row seat to the self-absorption that characterizes those who would (and do) become mythmakers in Tinseltown. —Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024

The conceit is simple: what if Lambo made a rally car? —Sean Evans, Robb Report, 1 Apr. 2024

There is a didactic quality to this conceit that can grow a bit tedious. —Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2024

Crucially, the video game conceit suits the play — not only the fight-heavy storyline, with its sense of continually rebooting military and political clashes, but also Coriolanus’s relative deficit of interiority (especially compared with protagonists of other Shakespeare tragedies). —Celia Wren, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2024

That's the terrifying conceit at the core of Evil Eye, and worse, Usha sees Sandeep's true intentions, but no one, including her daughter, will believe her. —EW.com, 19 Dec. 2023

To Gromyko, such conceit must have seemed breathtaking. —Benn Steil, Foreign Affairs, 19 Mar. 2024

So what might seem like improvements or expansions — elaborate group choreography, imaginative conceits — risk straying from the emotional core that makes flamenco flamenco. —Brian Seibert, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2024

Johnson’s legal conceit allowed Republicans to side with Trump without embracing his frivolous claims. —David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from conceivre — see conceive

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b(1)

Verb

1557, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing conceit

• self-conceit

Kids Definition

conceit

noun

con·​ceit

kən-ˈsēt

1

: too much pride in one's own worth or virtue

2

a

: an idea showing imagination

b

: a complicated way of expressing something