CONCEIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does conceive mean? 

• CONCEIVE (verb)
  The verb CONCEIVE has 3 senses:

1. have the idea for

2. judge or regard; look upon; judge

3. become pregnant; undergo conception

  Familiarity information: CONCEIVE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONCEIVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they conceive    ... he / she / it conceives   
Past simple: conceived   
Past participle: conceived   
-ing form: conceiving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have the idea for

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

conceive; conceptualise; conceptualize; gestate

Context example:

This library was well conceived

Hypernyms (to "conceive" is one way to...):

create by mental act; create mentally (create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "conceive"):

design (conceive or fashion in the mind; invent)

preconceive (conceive beforehand)

discover; find (make a discovery, make a new finding)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Did he conceive his major works over a short period of time?

Derivation:

conceiver (someone who creates new things)

concept (an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances)

conception (the creation of something in the mind)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Judge or regard; look upon; judge

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

believe; conceive; consider; think

Context example:

The racist conceives such people to be inferior

Hypernyms (to "conceive" is one way to...):

evaluate; judge; pass judgment (form a critical opinion of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "conceive"):

hold (remain committed to)

rethink (change one's mind)

think (dispose the mind in a certain way)

be known as; esteem; know as; look on; look upon; regard as; repute; take to be; think of (look on as or consider)

feel (have a feeling or perception about oneself in reaction to someone's behavior or attitude)

consider; reckon; regard; see; view (deem to be)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s something Adjective/Noun
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become pregnant; undergo conception

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

My daughter was conceived in Christmas Day

Hypernyms (to "conceive" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

"Conceive" entails doing...:

copulate; couple; mate; pair (engage in sexual intercourse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "conceive"):

superfetate (conceive when a fetus is already present in the uterus)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

conception (the act of becoming pregnant; fertilization of an ovum by a spermatozoon)

conceptive (capable of conceiving)

 Context examples 

An explosion of a smouldering volcano long suppressed, was the result of an internal contest more easily conceived than described.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My aunt conceived a great attachment for her, by which she was induced to give her an education superior to that which she had at first intended.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

With the child-brain that was to him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I could have sworn his face fell at the intelligence, but why he should be disappointed I could not conceive.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

For a fairyland it was—the most wonderful that the imagination of man could conceive.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could not conceive or believe: it was more like an inspiration.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In the quest to bring technologies closer to the end-user, one particular tool that is increasingly being used for wider purposes than those originally conceived is the mobile phone.

(Scientists design platform to conduct chemical analysis using a smartphone, University of Granada)

NICHD researchers and their colleagues analyzed data from the Upstate KIDS Study, originally undertaken to follow the development of children conceived after infertility treatments and born in New York State from 2008 to 2010.

(High amounts of screen time begin as early as infancy, National Institutes of Health)

Researchers followed 501 couples attempting to conceive between 2005 and 2009 in Michigan and Texas.

(Air pollution exposure in early pregnancy linked to miscarriage, National Institutes of Health)

And this was the first time I began to conceive some imperfect idea of courts and ministers.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)