Conceive Meaning
/kənˈsiːv/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo have a child; to become pregnant (with).
verbTo develop; to form in the mind; to imagine.
Sentence Examples
I cannot conceive why she has done such a thing.
We cannot conceive science without a hypothesis.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The architect needed to ____ a new design for the modern library.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is hard to ____ of a universe that is completely infinite.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English conceyven, from Old French concevoir, conceveir, from Latin concipiō, concipere (“to devise, to conceive”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"She hath also conceived a son in her old age."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:36:
"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."
— 1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:
"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."
— 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
"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—..."
— 1890, Thomas Tyler, Shakespeare's Sonnets, D. Nutt, page 81:
"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."
— 1980 December 6, Nancy Walker, “Toodle-Oo, Doodle”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 12:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The architect needed to ____ a new design for the modern library.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is hard to ____ of a universe that is completely infinite.