Meaning and Origin
What does the name Conception mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
Origin and Meaning of Conception
User Submitted Origins
Spanish
71%
Filipino (Philippines)
14%
Portuguese
14%
International Interest
Also see international interest
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
noun Con*cep"tion
Senses
- The act of conceiving in the womb; the initiation of an embryonic animal life."I will greaty multiply thy sorrow and thy conception." [Gen. iii. 16.]
- The state of being conceived; beginning."Joy had the like conception in our eyes." [Shak.]
- The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception."Under the article of conception, I shall confine myself to that faculty whose province it is to enable us to form a notion of our past sensations, or of the objects of sense that we have formerly perceived." [Stewart.]
- The formation in the mind of an image, idea, or notion, apprehension." Conception consists in a conscious act of the understanding, bringing any given object or impression into the same class with any number of other objects or impression, by means of some character or characters common to them all." [Coleridge.]
- The image, idea, or notion of any action or thing which is formed in the mind; a concept; a notion; a universal; the product of a rational belief or judgment. See Concept."He [Herodotus] says that the sun draws or attracts the water; a metaphorical term obviously intended to denote some more general and abstract conception than that of the visible operation which the word primarily signifies." [Whewell.]
- Idea; purpose; design."Note this dangerous conception." [Shak.]
- Conceit; affected sentiment or thought.(Obs)"He . . . is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticism." [Dryden.]synonyms: Idea; notion; perception; apprehemsion; comprehension.
Etymology: F. conception, L. conceptio, fr. concipere to conceive. See Conceive
Other Dictionary Sources
- The act of becoming pregnant; fertilization of an ovum by a spermatozoon
- The creation of something in the mind
- An abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances
- The event that occurred at the beginning of something
Wiktionary
From Middle English conceptioun, borrowed from Old French conception, from Latin conceptiō (“a comprehending, a collection, composition, an expression, also a becoming pregnant”), from concipiō, past participle conceptus (“conceive”); see conceive.
- The act of conceiving.
- The state of being conceived; the beginning.
- The fertilization of an ovum by a sperm to form a zygote.
- The start of pregnancy.
- The formation of a conceptus or an implanted embryo.
- The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception; the ability to form mental abstractions.
- An image, idea, or notion formed in the mind; a concept, plan or design.
conception was also found in the following language(s): French and Old French