Conceived

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /kənˈsiːvd/

Definitions

1. Formed as an idea or plan in the mind ; to become pregnant with a child
2. Developed or imagined mentally ; the process of beginning a pregnancy within a woman
3. Originated in thought or conception ; to successfully start the process of carrying offspring

Etymology: "Conceived" is the past tense and past participle of "conceive," so its history is that of the verb itself. The verb came into Middle English as "conceyven," borrowed from Old French "concevoir" or "conceveir," which in turn descends from the Latin "concipere," meaning "to take in" or "to devise." The Latin verb was built from "com-," an intensifying prefix, and "capere," "to take" or "to seize," which is also the source of words like "capture" and "receive." The Latin sense of taking something in gave the verb its two main strands. One is physical: to take in a child in the womb, which is where the sense of becoming pregnant comes from. The other is mental: to take an idea into the mind and form it there. English uses both, and the mental sense is the one behind "thought up," the idea of devising a plan, product, or notion from scratch.

Synonyms: imagined, envisioned

Antonyms: dismissed