conception

English

Etymology

From Middle English concepcioun, borrowed from Old French conception, from Latin conceptiō (“a comprehending, a collection, composition, an expression, also a becoming pregnant”), from concipiō, past participle conceptus (“conceive”); see conceive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈsɛpʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

conception (countable and uncountable, plural conceptions)

1. The act of conceiving.
2. The state of being conceived; the beginning.
3. The fertilization of an ovum by a sperm to form a zygote.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi:

     Some powers diuine, or els infernall, mixt
     Their angry ſeedes at his conception:
     For he was neuer ſprong of humaine race,
     Since with the ſpirit of his fearefull pride,
     He dares so doubtleſly reſolue of rule.

4. The start of pregnancy.
5. The formation of a conceptus or an implanted embryo.
6. The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception; the ability to form mental abstractions.
   • c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama , Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:

     What the school books say about the united efforts of the two great Rossums is all a fairy tale. They used to have dreadful rows. The old atheist hadn't the slightest conception of industrial matters, and the end of it was that young Rossum shut him up in some laboratory or other and let him fritter the time away with his monstrosities, while he himself started on the business from an engineer's point of view.

7. An image, idea, or notion formed in the mind; a concept, plan or design.
   • 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, pages 250–251:

     Elegant brick and stone buildings, with iron and glass canopies and decorative wooden scalloping and fencing—all evidencing care on the part of the architect to produce a pleasing, well-planned building—were submerged beneath a profusion of ill-conceived additions and camouflaged by vulgar paint schemes; and the original conception was lost.

Antonyms

• misconception

Coordinate terms

• inception

Derived terms

Related terms

• conceive
• concept

Translations

See also

• contraception

References

• “conception”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “conception”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• nonectopic

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French conception, concepcion, borrowed from Latin conceptiōnem (“comprehension, understanding”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sɛp.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

conception f (plural conceptions)

1. conception (of a child)
2. conception (beginning, start)
3. ability to understand
4. viewpoint; angle
5. concept, idea

Derived terms

• Immaculée Conception

Related terms

• concept
• concevoir

Further reading

• “conception”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Old French

Alternative forms

• concepcion

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin conceptio, conceptionem (“comprehension, understanding”).

Noun

conception oblique singular, f (oblique plural conceptions, nominative singular conception, nominative plural conceptions)

1. conception (of a child)
   • 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine):

     Et sont retenus naturellement comme en concepcion

     And they are naturally retained in the case of conception

Descendants

• → Middle English: concepcioun, concepcion, concepciun, concepcyon, consepcioun
  • English: conception
• French: conception