conceive

verb con·ceive \ kən-ˈsēv \

Updated on: 25 Apr 2018

Definition of conceive

conceived; conceiving

transitive verb

1 a : to become pregnant with (young)

conceive a child

b : to cause to begin : originate

a project conceived by the company's founder

2 a : 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 emptiness

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

—

conceiver

noun

See conceive defined for English-language learners

See conceive defined for kids

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 of conceive from the Web

Harrison can't conceive what Ingram went through to have that moment.

— mac engel, star-telegram, "One night, two 10-day guys chased the NBA phantom | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 11 Apr. 2018
The lawsuit says: Sally Ashby and Howard Fowler were having trouble conceiving in 1979.

— audrey dutton, idahostatesman, "Did this Idaho OB/GYN secretly use his own sperm to get a patient pregnant? | Idaho Statesman," 4 Apr. 2018
Kehr Planet of the Vampires Mario Bava's affectingly sleazy but elegantly conceived 1965 genre piece (also known as Demon Planet) puts warm-blooded Barry Sullivan on a seriously anemic planet.

— patrick friel, Chicago Reader, "Film / Foreign / Television Five low-budget (but still amazing) science-fiction films," 3 Apr. 2018
The two companies conceived a plan with new self-driving vehicle designs and a multi-year business alliance.

— mark bergen, Bloomberg.com, "Waymo Isn’t Going to Slow Down Now," 2 Apr. 2018
Seeing how the filmmakers — including the novel’s author, Ernest Cline, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zak Penn — conceived of this dystopian future and the simulacrum of a life into which everyone escapes was engaging.

— alissa wilkinson, Vox, "Ready Player One is a fun romp that’s even more dystopian than it realizes," 29 Mar. 2018
Josefina and Pascual, who had not been able to conceive their own child, agreed to raise him in Lincoln Heights.

— www.latimes.com, "A Dream Displaced," 29 Mar. 2018
Because cysts can grow painlessly, some go undetected until a doctor is examining a patient for other related issues (trouble conceiving or staying pregnant, for example).

— nina bahadur, Glamour, "Why Do We Know So Little About Endometriosis?," 7 Mar. 2018
Mainly consisting of tacos and small plates, the menu is edited and well-conceived.

— carrie goldberg, Harper's BAZAAR, "The Ultimate Guide to Pittsburgh, America's Most Underrated City," 17 Aug. 2016

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.

Origin and Etymology of conceive

Middle English, from Anglo-French conceivre, from Latin concipere to take in, conceive, from com- + capere to take — more at heave

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

conceive Synonyms

Phrases

pick up on;

Synonym Discussion of 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.