conception

noun conceptions

1. countable, uncountable The act of conceiving.
2. countable, uncountable The state of being conceived; the beginning.
3. countable, uncountable The fertilization of an ovum by a sperm to form a zygote. Some powers diuine, or els infernall, mixt Their angry ſeedes at his conception: For he was neuer ſprong of humaine race, Since with the ſpirit of his fearefull pride, He dares so doubtleſly reſolue of rule.
4. countable, uncountable The start of pregnancy.
5. countable, uncountable The formation of a conceptus or an implanted embryo.
6. countable, uncountable 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. What the school books say about the united efforts of the two great Rossums is all a fairy tale. They used to have dreadful rows. The old atheist hadn't the slightest conception of industrial matters, and the end of it was that young Rossum shut him up in some laboratory or other and let him fritter
7. countable, uncountable An image, idea, or notion formed in the mind; a concept, plan or design. "Around the World in Eighty Days" once had so much appeal to the imagination that Jules Verne wrote a novel about it. The latest proposal is to girdle the globe in three months in a flying machine. The practicability of such a flight is here discussed by an expert. Mr. Woodhouse is a member of the A
8. countable, uncountable Something conceived or designed. The figure was placed on a low pedestal, sufficiently raised from the carpet on four plain wooden legs for all the space underneath to be clearly visible. The body was a squat, cross-legged conception, typical of an Indian deity […]

Opposite: misconception