conceive. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

conceive

SYLLABICATION:	con·ceive
PRONUNCIATION:	kn-sv
VERB:	Inflected forms: con·ceived, con·ceiv·ing, con·ceives
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To become pregnant with (offspring). 2. To form or develop in the mind; devise: conceive a plan to increase profits. 3. To apprehend mentally; understand: couldn't conceive the meaning of that sentence. 4. To be of the opinion that; think: didn't conceive such a tragedy could occur. 5. To begin or originate in a specific way: a political movement conceived in the ferment of the 1960s.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To form or hold an idea: Ancient peoples conceived of the earth as flat. 2. To become pregnant.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English conceiven, from Old French concevoir, conceiv-, from Latin concipere : com-, intensive pref.; see com– + capere, to take; see kap- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	con·ceiva·bili·ty, con·ceiva·ble·ness —NOUN con·ceiva·ble —ADJECTIVE con·ceiva·bly —ADVERB con·ceiver —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.