concept

[ kon-sept ]

/ ˈkɒn sɛpt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR concept ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

adjective

functioning as a prototype or model of new product or innovation: a concept car, a concept phone.

verb (used with object)

Informal. to develop a concept of; conceive: He concepted and produced three films.

Nearby words

concentre, concentric, concentric hypertrophy, concentric lamella, concepción, concept, concept art, concept formation, conceptacle, conception, conception rate

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

Can be confused

concept conception inception

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for concept

But Seligman never imagined how Mitchell might put the concept to work, in part because it was so ill-suited to that purpose.
The Luxury Homes That Torture and Your Tax Dollars Built|Michael Daly|December 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“The idea was to mess with the concept of Christmas,” recalled John Law, an original Cacophony member.
Before the Bros, SantaCon Was as an Anti-Corporate Protest|David Freedlander|December 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The creator Armando Iannucci adapted the concept for an American audience in Veep.
Doctor Who: It’s Time For a Black, Asian, or Woman Doctor|Nico Hines|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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 Videos|The Daily Beast Video|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST

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 Crackhead|Curtis Stephen|November 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Pavlov's book will further explain and clarify the concept of the conditioned response mechanism.
A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis|Melvin Powers
Awareness of universals is called conceiving, and a universal of which we are aware is called a concept.
Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays|Bertrand Russell
Recent contemporary French writers are in no way doubtful of the meaning implied by the concept of Morality.
Morals and the Evolution of Man|Max Simon Nordau
The concept of technical diminishing returns has reference to a limited period of time.
The Principles of Economics|Frank A. Fetter
The faculty of thought generalizes this variety of effects under the concept of heat in general.
The Positive Outcome of Philosophy|Joseph Dietzgen

British Dictionary definitions for concept

concept

/ (ˈkɒnsɛpt) /

noun

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 for concept

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for concept

concept

[ kŏn′sĕpt′ ]

n.

An abstract idea or notion.

An explanatory principle in a scientific system.conception