conceptualize
Americanverb (used with object)
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conceptualizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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conceptualized,
past participle, past
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conceptualizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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conceptualizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
conceptualized,
past participle, past
-
conceptualizing
present participle
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
-
have been conceptualizingperfect progressive
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has been conceptualizingperfect progressive
Past
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conceptualizedsimple
-
had conceptualizedperfect
-
was conceptualizingprogressive
-
were conceptualizingprogressive
-
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:
The day had suddenly become incredibly long, and I couldn’t conceptualize that eventually, it would end.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
Americans had to conceptualize their liberation in alignment with the laws of nature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
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
He said, “I appreciate that, but can you even conceptualize the output you will need on this show? I watched Sarah Michelle suffer for seven years. Everything was on her shoulders.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2025
Thus historians who take language seriously need to search out the emergence of new languages, which must represent transformations in what people can think and how they can conceptualize their world.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
“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 Josephine G. Paterson
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 means that the content of the pure intuition cannot be either an abstract concept, or a speculative concept or idea, or a conceptualized, that is historicized, representation.
From Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic by Benedetto Croce
It is easy to deprecate the single phrase inscribed atop the entrance to our courthouse by conceptualizing it as a mere platitude.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2025
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
So when you were conceptualizing things like this mood ring world, Justin is the guy who can really get into the details of things like the color script.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2023
Perhaps this is the value of an existentially grounded insight; it has a kind of durability resulting from its continuous rejuvenation by the interplay of experiencing and conceptualizing.
From Humanistic Nursing by Josephine G. Paterson
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.
