conceive
Americanverb (used with object)
-
conceives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
conceived,
past participle, past
-
conceiving
present participle
-
to form (a notion, opinion, purpose, etc.).
He conceived the project while he was on vacation.
-
to form a notion or idea of; imagine.
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to hold as an opinion; think; believe.
I can't conceive that it would be of any use.
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to experience or form (a feeling).
to conceive a great love for music.
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to express, as in words.
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to become pregnant with.
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to beget.
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to begin, originate, or found (something) in a particular way (usually used in the passive).
a new nation conceived in liberty.
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Archaic. to understand; comprehend.
verb (used without object)
-
conceives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
conceived,
past participle, past
-
conceiving
present participle
-
to form an idea; think (usually followed byof ).
-
to become pregnant.
verb
-
to have an idea (of); imagine; think
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(tr; takes a clause as object or an infinitive) to hold as an opinion; believe
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(tr) to develop or form, esp in the mind
she conceived a passion for music
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to become pregnant with (young)
-
rare (tr) to express in words
Synonym Usage
See imagine.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
conceivesimple
-
conceivessimple
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have conceivedperfect
-
has conceivedperfect
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am conceivingprogressive
-
are conceivingprogressive
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is conceivingprogressive
-
have been conceivingperfect progressive
-
has been conceivingperfect progressive
Past
-
conceivedsimple
-
had conceivedperfect
-
was conceivingprogressive
-
were conceivingprogressive
-
had been conceivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of conceive
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English from Anglo-French, Old French conceivre, from Latin concipere “to take fully, take in,” equivalent to con- con- + -cipere, combining form of capere “to take”
Explanation
To conceive is to come up with an idea. If you conceive a plan for your little brother's birthday, you dream up the perfect party, complete with a magician, rented ponies, and a cake shaped like a rocket. Latin roots for conceive (by way of French) point to "take into" either "the womb" or "the mind." An idea is sometimes called "a seed" or "the seed of an idea," and conceive means to produce something from inside the mind — or to become pregnant. Another expression is "pregnant with ideas" or "pregnant with possibilities," and someone who can "conceive of a thousand ways" to solve a problem or design something is full of new ideas.
Vocabulary lists containing conceive
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" (1863)
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"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the age of 35 she decided to freeze her eggs in the hope it may help her conceive in the future.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
That meant LGBTQ+ and single people who historically had been shut out by definitions of infertility as a failure to conceive after six to 12 months of unprotected heterosexual intercourse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Some may find a partner and conceive on their own; some may decide they no longer want children; and others may choose another path to parenthood, such as adoption.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026
She became a surrogate partly to help parents who couldn’t conceive and to fund a future—“four bedrooms, five baths,” she told the Journal—for her husband, daughter and herself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
I had begun to conceive of what my education might cost me, and I had begun to resent it.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Clearly Ms. Footer conceives of Bradley as something of a tortured Romantic; what’s unclear—in fact, what is unknowable—is whether Bradley did himself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Turk conceives her character as a collection of insecurities and hesitant expressions, making Dalia the perfect candidate to be metaphorically reborn through an unlikely forest adventure in which magical events will occur.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
Perhaps the big divide here isn’t about what one wants one’s family to look like, but in how one conceives of parenthood in the first place.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2025
"If I'd known that one in five women conceives naturally after IVF, I'd have used contraception until I was ready both emotionally and physically."
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2023
It is not easy to avoid the conclusion that Dewey conceives of 'consciousness' as a construct of existentially distinct terms.
From John Dewey's logical theory by Delton Thomas Howard
But the college faced challenges that slowed the project after it was initially conceived in 2018.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
Halzen, who grew up in Belgium, paid rich tribute to the roughly 450 people across more than a dozen countries who have helped turn an idea he conceived in the late 1980s into reality.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
“The Whale” is subtler on stage than it is on screen; its metaphors work better in the theater’s buoyant atmosphere for which they were conceived.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Thankfully, violence has been pushed to the periphery of most societies to a degree ancient and medieval people never conceived possible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Records also show that Jefferson was at Monticello during the times Sally Hemings was likely to have conceived her children.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
In conceiving the story, they also wanted to avoid the “cottage industry” that had popped up around Bourdain’s death, which focused on the mystery of his final days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
When F1 was conceiving the new engines, the idea was to attract more car manufacturers into the sport, and particularly the Volkswagen Group.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
But Bi is after more than elaborate dress-up, conceiving each episode as an exploration of how movies amplify and comment on life’s cavalcade of emotions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
But some symptoms are highly suggestive of PCOS, including irregular or missed periods, excessive hair growth on the face and body, acne, weight gain, and difficulty conceiving.
From Slate ● Sep. 19, 2025
I hastened to drive from my mind the hateful notion I had been conceiving respecting Grace Poole; it disgusted me.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
