concept
[kon-sept]
- a general notion or idea; conception.
- an idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct.
- a directly conceived or intuited object of thought.
- functioning as a prototype or model of new product or innovation: a concept car, a concept phone.
- Informal. to develop a concept of; conceive: He concepted and produced three films.
Origin of concept
1550–60; < Latin conceptum something conceived, orig. neuter of conceptus (past participle of concipere), equivalent to con- con- + cep- (variant stem of -cipere, combining form of capere to seize) + -tus past participle ending
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for concept
Contemporary Examples
But Seligman never imagined how Mitchell might put the concept to work, in part because it was so ill-suited to that purpose.
“The idea was to mess with the concept of Christmas,” recalled John Law, an original Cacophony member.
The creator Armando Iannucci adapted the concept for an American audience in Veep.
One of the most romantic—and, some would say, unrealistic—phenomena of American culture is the concept of “the one.”
Swimming Owls, Jane Krakowski’s Peter Pan Live! Audition, and More Viral VideosThe Daily Beast Video
December 7, 2014
But the band grew and grew and we were a force to be reckoned with as a concept.
George Clinton on Industry ‘Mobsters’ and How Nobody Wants to Listen to a CrackheadCurtis Stephen
November 19, 2014
Historical Examples
They will test our courage, our devotion to duty, and our concept of liberty.
I felt this the more when to the concept of Infinitude I added that of Intelligence.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
He would rather live and die in fear than change this concept of God.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
A non-loving Universal Thought was too monstrous a concept to entertain.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
To attempt to eliminate fear and retain this concept of God is vain.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
concept
- an idea, esp an abstract ideathe concepts of biology
- philosophy a general idea or notion that corresponds to some class of entities and that consists of the characteristic or essential features of the class
- philosophy
- the conjunction of all the characteristic features of something
- a theoretical construct within some theory
- a directly intuited object of thought
- the meaning of a predicate
- (modifier) (of a product, esp a car) created as an exercise to demonstrate the technical skills and imagination of the designers, and not intended for mass production or sale
Word Origin
C16: from Latin conceptum something received or conceived, from concipere to take in, conceive
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for concept
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
concept
(kŏn′sĕpt′)
- An abstract idea or notion.
- An explanatory principle in a scientific system.conception
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.