conceive

verb

con·ceive kən-ˈsēv

conceived; conceiving

Synonyms of conceive next

transitive verb

: to become pregnant with (young)

conceive a child

: to cause to begin : originate

a project conceived by the company's founder

: to take into one's mind

conceive a prejudice

: to form a conception of : imagine

a badly conceived design

cleverly conceived teleplays

: 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

: to have as an opinion

I cannot conceive that he acted alone.

intransitive verb

: to become pregnant

: to have a conception

—usually used with of

conceives of death as emptiness

It is hard to conceive of all the work that must have been involved in starting off from scratch.—

Harold Fromm

conceiver noun

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 Athena was born via surrogate, following Menounos’ decade-long journey to conceive. —

Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 8 Sep. 2023 Ostermeier’s version, conceived and directed by Ostermeier, originally produced at Schaubühne Berlin, was previously performed at London’s Barbican in 2014. —

Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 5 Sep. 2023 The first and second African elephants in the world to be conceived and successfully born through artificial insemination were at the Zoo in 2000. —

Cheryl V. Jackson, The Indianapolis Star, 5 Sep. 2023 Does birth control affect pregnancy and your ability to conceive? —

Jennifer L. W. Fink, Parents, 2 Sep. 2023 Hormonal imbalances can lead to irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, and other issues that may affect your ability to conceive. —

Lindsay Modglin, Health, 1 Sep. 2023 The inaugural academy actually took place in 2008, with Lucas Ordóñez as the victor, and was conceived by Darren Cox. —

Emily Zemler, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2023 The process, conceived to reduce waste and salvage material, begins with the manual removal of zippers, closures and stitching on leftover garments and accessories like sweaters, gloves and scarves. —

Laura Bannister Carla Valdivia Nakatani Jameson Montgomery Christopher Kuo Gisela Williams, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023 The Buddhist pictured God the way Hindus conceived of Brahma or Shiva, or the ancient Greeks imagined Zeus or Athena, the former missionary says. —

Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'conceive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.