CONCEPTION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Conception

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/kənsˈɛpʃən/ Listen

noun

Conception n.

1.

The act of conceiving in the womb; the initiation of an embryonic animal life. "I will greaty multiply thy sorrow and thy conception."

2.

The state of being conceived; beginning. "Joy had the like conception in our eyes."

3.

The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception. "Under the article of conception, I shall confine myself to that faculty whose province it is to enable us to form a notion of our past sensations, or of the objects of sense that we have formerly perceived."

4.

The formation in the mind of an image, idea, or notion, apprehension. "Conception consists in a conscious act of the understanding, bringing any given object or impression into the same class with any number of other objects or impression, by means of some character or characters common to them all."

5.

The image, idea, or notion of any action or thing which is formed in the mind; a concept; a notion; a universal; the product of a rational belief or judgment. See Concept. "He (Herodotus) says that the sun draws or attracts the water; a metaphorical term obviously intended to denote some more general and abstract conception than that of the visible operation which the word primarily signifies."

6.

Idea; purpose; design. "Note this dangerous conception."

7.

Conceit; affected sentiment or thought. (Obs.) "He... is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticism."

Synonyms: Idea; notion; perception; apprehemsion; comprehension.

See images of 'Conception'

Etymology of 'Conception'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Conception" Quotes from Famous Books

... music, and his niece sing, was dispelled by Garcia's departure for Mexico, and his subsequent return to Europe. For the next five years Da Ponte seems to have kept the waters of the operatic pool stirred, for there is general recognition in the records of the fact that to him was due the conception of the second experiment, although its execution was left to another, who was neither an American nor an Italian, but a Frenchman named Montressor. Like Garcia, he was his own tenor, which fact must ...

— Chapters of Opera • Henry Edward Krehbiel

... was for years to justify its title of "The Wanderer." It contains one of the prettiest, tenderest, most vitally poetic ideas that ever occurred to Eugene Field. And yet he deliberately disclaimed it in the moment of its conception and laid it, like a little foundling, at the door of Madame Modjeska. The expatriation of the Polish actress, between whom and Field there existed a singularly warm and enduring friendship, formed the basis for the allegory of the shell on ...

— Eugene Field, A Study In Heredity And Contradictions - Vol. I • Slason Thompson

... of the 1st of July we shifted our tents overland, and down the creek as far as the salmon stream. In performing this short journey over bare ground, I was enabled to form some conception of the difficulties likely to be encountered by Captain Lyon and his companions; for, even with our light load, the dogs could scarcely move at times. One of the strongest of eleven fell down in a fit occasioned by over exertion; the poor animal ...

— Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the • Sir William Edward Parry

... he thought, that a woman could take on the new rights, the aristocratic attitude, so much more completely than a man. Miss Hitchcock was a full generation ahead of the others in her conception of inherited, personal rights. As the dinner dragged on, there occurred no further opportunity for talk until near the end, when suddenly the clear, even tones of Miss Hitchcock's voice brought his ...

— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... can be revived and increased. It expresses our religion and recalls our history." This opinion alone was enough to create a revolt among her contemporaries. Almost all other interpretations of Faust were based on her conception. ...

— Women of Modern France - Woman In All Ages And In All Countries • Hugo P. Thieme

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