conceptualize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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conceptualizesimple
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conceptualizessimple
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have conceptualizedperfect
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has conceptualizedperfect
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am conceptualizingprogressive
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are conceptualizingprogressive
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is conceptualizingprogressive
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have been conceptualizingperfect progressive
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has been conceptualizingperfect progressive
Past
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conceptualizedsimple
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had conceptualizedperfect
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was conceptualizingprogressive
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were conceptualizingprogressive
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had been conceptualizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of conceptualize
First recorded in 1875–80; conceptual + -ize
Explanation
If you have an idea for something, or if you understand something fully, you conceptualize it. You might conceptualize the plan for a big party, but find it hard to conceptualize exactly how the big bang worked. In conceptualize, you see the word concept which means an idea. Don't think of a simple idea though, like taking a walk. Imagine a complex concept involving many elements, so a little brain work is involved. When you conceptualize, you either create a concept or you grasp one. The idea of man landing on the moon was conceptualized hundreds of years before it was planned or achieved.
Vocabulary lists containing conceptualize
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:
Tuesday’s board meeting provided a first look at how administrators conceptualize the board’s directive, approved unanimously on April 21, to limit district-required screen time.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
Numbers this big can be hard to conceptualize, so Dow Jones Market Data sought to put some context around Nvidia’s next threshold.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2025
Shafir likes to use the image of a suitcase to help people conceptualize their budget.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Historical and contemporary examples can help conceptualize the establishment of such a scheme.
From Salon ● Dec. 11, 2024
But he couldn’t form words, couldn’t conceptualize this as a victory.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
“He conceptualizes everything so well. He’s got this numbers thing going on in his head. Like, ‘You don’t have enough people over here to cover the receiver, so therefore, they’re probably doing something over here.’
From Washington Post ● Feb. 9, 2023
“He’s obviously beyond a monster, but the way he conceptualizes himself and the story he tells himself about his life …” she trails off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2020
He questioned how the museum conceptualizes blockbuster exhibitions, and whether artists and community leaders are part of the initial conversations.
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2020
Faris says that he conceptualizes fighting dirty in a more high-minded way.
From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2019
Clinical Is A potentially clinical psychiatric mental health situation becomes "clinical" if the clinician relates to the helpee to awaken his unique potential or ontic wholeness, and noetically transcending this relating conceptualizes its meaning.
From Humanistic Nursing by Paterson, Josephine G.
In his 2004 book, “Affirmative Action Around the World,” economist Thomas Sowell highlighted the dangers of poorly conceptualized affirmative-action policies in India and other countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
"For decades, the Toxoplasma life cycle was understood in overly simplistic terms, conceptualized as a linear transition between tachyzoite and bradyzoite stages," Wilson said.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 27, 2026
It was there, on a whiteboard in her kitchen, that he conceptualized this modern, diverse digital media company, he said.
From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2024
The plan, at least how it was conceptualized, was for the Lakers to come to Phoenix on Thursday night and go through an exercise that mimicked a regular-season game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2024
This meant that I had two conceptualized presentations of similar type personal experiences in nursing consultation to compare and contrast.
From Humanistic Nursing by Paterson, Josephine G.
For Muehl, it’s all about conceptualizing and painstakingly trying to get the dishes “show ready.”
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
As such, Lanning and his research team introduced a novel approach to conceptualizing person-community fit, predicated on the idea that communities, like persons, are diverse, and can include multiple environmental niches.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2024
But conceptualizing myself as a person who can also be calm, who can actually handle the world, and realizing that this is my preferred state—that has been so much more helpful.
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2023
I know from your writing that when you were first conceptualizing the notion that humans are a cancer on the planet, it was very unpopular.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2023
Therefore, the interrelated practical and theoretical development of humanistic nursing is dependent on nurses experiencing, conceptualizing, and sharing their unique angular views of their unique lived nursing worlds.
From Humanistic Nursing by Paterson, Josephine G.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
