conceive

verb

con·ceive | \ kən-ˈsēv

conceived; conceiving

Definition of conceive

transitive verb

1a : to become pregnant with (young) conceive a child

b : to cause to begin : originate a project conceived by the company's founder

2a : to take into one's mind conceive a prejudice

b : to form a conception of : imagine a badly conceived design cleverly conceived teleplays

3 : to apprehend by reason or imagination : understand unable to conceive his reasons It is easy enough to conceive the notion that your island is a sort of fortress.— Paul Theroux

4 : to have as an opinion I cannot conceive that he acted alone.

intransitive verb

1 : to become pregnant

2 : to have a conception —usually used with of conceives of death as emptinessIt is hard to conceive of all the work that must have been involved in starting off from scratch.— Harold Fromm

Other Words from conceive Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about conceive

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Choose the Right Synonym for conceive

think, conceive, imagine, fancy, realize, envisage, envision mean to form an idea of. think implies the entrance of an idea into one's mind with or without deliberate consideration or reflection. I just thought of a good joke conceive suggests the forming and bringing forth and usually developing of an idea, plan, or design. conceived of a new marketing approach imagine stresses a visualization. imagine you're at the beach fancy suggests an imagining often unrestrained by reality but spurred by desires. fancied himself a super athlete realize stresses a grasping of the significance of what is conceived or imagined. realized the enormity of the task ahead envisage and envision imply a conceiving or imagining that is especially clear or detailed. envisaged a totally computerized operation envisioned a cure for the disease

Examples of conceive in a Sentence

When the writer conceived this role, he had a specific actor in mind to play the part. As conceived by the committee, the bill did not raise taxes. a woman who has been unable to conceive a woman who has been unable to conceive a child

Recent Examples on the Web

With this idea in mind, Wearstler conceived a collection of polished bowls, lanterns, and vases. — Lucia Tonelli, ELLE Decor, "Kelly Wearstler Partners with Georg Jensen on a Sculptural New Collection," 28 Mar. 2019 However, the pilot is so intrusive, ill-conceived and likely to harm the equities markets, there was no choice. — Dave Michaels, WSJ, "Big Three Stock Exchanges Sue SEC Over Trading-Fee Plan," 15 Feb. 2019 But this is not the first strobe weapon ever conceived—not by a long shot. — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, "The Long, Weird History of Strobe Weapons," 11 Feb. 2019 Maybe the point is that democracy doesn’t have to work the way it was conceived in order to be successful. — Sean Illing, Vox, "Intellectuals have said democracy is failing for a century. They were wrong.," 20 Dec. 2018 When it was first conceived, a prevailing view in the industry was that auto makers needed global scale to compete. — Nick Kostov, WSJ, "Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn Arrested, to Be Ousted as Chairman Amid Financial Misconduct Probe," 19 Nov. 2018 We're pretty sure all of these efforts were conceived of and developed independently in China. — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, "Rocket Report: Scotland’s NIMBY problem, SpaceX test firing, Soyuz mishap," 2 Nov. 2018 Even Senator Jeff Flake, in the end, voted for Kavanaugh, despite the elevator pitch that allegedly convinced him to demand a further FBI instigation, an inquiry that was still born from the moment it was conceived. — Lynn Yaeger, Vogue, "The Week in Washington: “Look At Us!”," 7 Oct. 2018 It was conceived by Rihanna in collaboration with PRODJECT, a creative agency which also helped conceptualize last season's Fenty X Puma presentation, where Rihanna appeared on a set of pink mountains while perched on the backseat of a motorcycle. — Jessica Andrews, Teen Vogue, "Rihanna's Savage X Fenty New York Fashion Week Show Celebrated Women," 13 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'conceive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.