conceit
/kənˈsiːt/ noun, verb
Forms conceits conceiting conceited conceipt
- noun (obsolete) Something conceived in the mind; an idea, a thought.
- noun The faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension. “a man of quick conceit”
- noun Quickness of apprehension; active imagination; lively fancy.
- noun (obsolete) Opinion, (neutral) judgment.
- noun (now rare, dialectal) Esteem, favourable opinion.
- noun (countable) A novel or fanciful idea; a whim.
- noun (countable, rhetoric, literature) An ingenious expression or metaphorical idea, especially in extended form or used as a literary or rhetorical device.
- noun (uncountable) Overly high self-esteem; vain pride; hubris.
- verb (obsolete) To form an idea; to think.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To conceive.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English conceyte, formed from conceyven by analogy with pairs such as (Modern English) deceive~deceit, receive~receipt etc. Doublet of concept and concetto. Akin to Portuguese conceito.
Webster’s 1913
- noun That which is conceived, imagined, or formed in the mind; idea; thought; image; conception.
- noun Faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension; as, a man of quick conceit. [Obs.]
- verb To conceive; to imagine. [Archaic]
- verb To form an idea; to think. [Obs.]
Etymology [Through French, fr. L. conceptus a conceiving, conception, fr. concipere to conceive: cf. OF. p. p. nom. conciez conceived. See Conceive, and cf. Concept, Deceit.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “conceit”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details