conceive — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To have a child; to become pregnant (with).

   Usage

   • Transitive or intransitive

   Examples

   Assisted procreation can help those trying to conceive.

   She hath also conceived a son in her old age.

2. To develop; to form in the mind; to imagine.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life.

   More examples (1)

   At the mouth of the cave we found a single litter with six bearers, all of them mutes, waiting, and with them I was relieved to see our old friend Billali, for whom I had conceived a sort of affection.

   There are, moreover, grounds for thinking that the Rosaline of Love’s Labour’s Lost was originally conceived of by Shakespeare as pale with black eyes—...

   More examples (1)

   The car cost $700 initially. The subsequent cost was mounting out of sight, but I had conceived an extraordinary fondness for the bug, and my sother had conceived an extraordinary fondness for me, so she allowed my passion for the car to ransack our savings.

3. To imagine (as); to have a conception of; to form a representation of.

   Usage

   • Transitive or intransitive
   • Ditransitive
   • with-of

   Examples

   Can you conceive of him as a leader?

   We shall, / As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount / Before you, Lepidus.

   More examples (3)

   […]you will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the ſame Climate […]

   Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

   Remember, if you please, that the man you call slave sprang from the same seed, enjoys the same daylight, breathes like you, lives like you, dies like you. You can as easily conceive him a free man as he can conceive you a slave.

4. To understand (someone).

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   I conceive you.

Verb

1. have the idea for

   Synonyms

   gestateconceptualizeconceptualise

   Broader terms

   create by mental actcreate mentally

   Examples

   He conceived of a robot that would help paralyzed patients

   This library was well conceived

2. judge or regard; look upon; judge

   Synonyms

   thinkbelieveconsider

   Broader terms

   evaluatepass judgmentjudge

   Examples

   I think he is very smart

   I believe her to be very smart

   More examples (2)

   I think that he is her boyfriend

   The racist conceives such people to be inferior

3. become pregnant; undergo conception

   Broader terms

   change stateturn

   Examples

   She cannot conceive

   My daughter was conceived on Christmas Day