concept
Other forms: concepts
A concept is a thought or idea. If you're redecorating your bedroom, you might want to start with a concept, such as "flower garden" or "outer space."
It's a general idea about a thing or group of things, derived from specific instances or occurrences. It often applies to a theoretical idea in science: Einstein's contribution to the concept of relativity. Concept was borrowed from Late Latin conceptus, from Latin concipere "to take in, conceive, receive." A concept is an idea conceived in the mind. The original meaning of the verb conceive was to take sperm into the womb, and by a later extension of meaning, to take an idea into the mind.
Definitions of concept
-
an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances
-
synonyms:
conception, construct
-
antonyms:
-
misconception
an incorrect conception
-
types:
- show 117 types...
- hide 117 types...
-
conceptualisation, conceptuality, conceptualization
an elaborated concept
-
notion
a general inclusive concept
-
category
a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual scheme
-
regulation, rule
a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior
-
attribute, dimension, property
a construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished
-
abstract, abstraction
a concept or idea not associated with any specific instance
-
quantity
the concept that something has a magnitude and can be represented in mathematical expressions by a constant or a variable
-
division, part, section
one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole
-
whole
all of something including all its component elements or parts
-
law, natural law
a rule or body of rules of conduct inherent in human nature and essential to or binding upon human society
-
law, law of nature
a generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature
-
lexicalized concept
a concept that is expressed by a word (in some particular language)
-
hypothesis, possibility, theory
a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena
-
fact
a concept whose truth can be proved
-
linguistic rule, rule
(linguistics) a rule describing (or prescribing) a linguistic practice
-
frame
one of the ten divisions into which bowling is divided
-
right
an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature
-
perception
a way of conceiving something
-
mumpsimus
a traditional notion that is obstinately held although it is unreasonable
-
form, kind, sort, variety
a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
-
pigeonhole
a specific (often simplistic) category
-
rubric
category name
-
way
a general category of things; used in the expression `in the way of'
-
limitation, restriction, stricture
a principle that limits the extent of something
-
guideline, guidepost, rule of thumb
a rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior
-
cy pres, cy pres doctrine, rule of cy pres
a rule that when literal compliance is impossible the intention of a donor or testator should be carried out as nearly as possible
-
working principle, working rule
a rule that is adequate to permit work to be done
-
character, lineament, quality
a characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of something
-
characteristic, feature
a prominent attribute or aspect of something
-
feature, feature of speech
(linguistics) a distinctive characteristic of a linguistic unit that serves to distinguish it from other units of the same kind
-
absolute
something that is conceived or that exists independently and not in relation to other things; something that does not depend on anything else and is beyond human control; something that is not relative
-
teacher
a personified abstraction that teaches
-
thing
a special abstraction
-
quantum
a discrete amount of something that is analogous to the quantities in quantum theory
-
term
any distinct quantity contained in a polynomial
-
numerical quantity
a quantity expressed as a number
-
operand
a quantity upon which a mathematical operation is performed
-
variable, variable quantity
a quantity that can assume any of a set of values
-
constant, constant quantity, invariable
a quantity that does not vary
-
parameter
a quantity (such as the mean or variance) that characterizes a statistical population and that can be estimated by calculations from sample data
-
mathematical product, product
a quantity obtained by multiplication
-
amount, sum, total
a quantity obtained by the addition of a group of numbers
-
proportional
one of the quantities in a mathematical proportion
-
beginning
the first part or section of something
-
middle
an intermediate part or section
-
end
a final part or section
-
high point
the most enjoyable part of a given experience
-
component, constituent, element, factor, ingredient
an abstract part of something
-
unit
a single undivided whole
-
compound
a whole formed by a union of two or more elements or parts
-
complex, composite
a conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts
-
divine law
a law that is believed to come directly from God
-
principle
a basic truth or law or assumption
-
all-or-none law
(neurophysiology) a nerve impulse resulting from a weak stimulus is just as strong as a nerve impulse resulting from a strong stimulus
-
principle, rule
a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system
-
Archimedes' principle, law of Archimedes
(hydrostatics) the apparent loss in weight of a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid
-
Avogadro's hypothesis, Avogadro's law
the principle that equal volumes of all gases (given the same temperature and pressure) contain equal numbers of molecules
-
Bernoulli's law, law of large numbers
(statistics) law stating that a large number of items taken at random from a population will (on the average) have the population statistics
-
Benford's law
a law used by auditors to identify fictitious populations of numbers; applies to any population of numbers derived from other numbers
-
Bose-Einstein statistics
(physics) statistical law obeyed by a system of particles whose wave function is not changed when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle does not apply)
-
Boyle's law, Mariotte's law
the pressure of an ideal gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the volume
-
Coulomb's Law
a fundamental principle of electrostatics; the force of attraction or repulsion between two charged particles is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the distance between them; principle also holds for magnetic poles
-
Dalton's law, Dalton's law of partial pressures, law of partial pressures
(chemistry and physics) law stating that the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases equals the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture; the pressure of a gas in a mixture equals the pressure it would exert if it occupied the same volume alone at the same temperature
-
distribution law
(chemistry) the total energy in an assembly of molecules is not distributed equally but is distributed around an average value according to a statistical distribution
-
equilibrium law, law of chemical equilibrium
(chemistry) the principle that (at chemical equilibrium) in a reversible reaction the ratio of the rate of the forward reaction to the rate of the reverse reaction is a constant for that reaction
-
Fechner's law, Weber-Fechner law
(psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity; based on early work by E. H. Weber
-
Fermi-Dirac statistics
(physics) law obeyed by a systems of particles whose wave function changes when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle applies)
-
Charles's law, Gay-Lussac's law, law of volumes
(physics) the density of an ideal gas at constant pressure varies inversely with the temperature
-
Henry's law
(chemistry) law formulated by the English chemist William Henry; the amount of a gas that will be absorbed by water increases as the gas pressure increases
-
Hooke's law
(physics) the principle that (within the elastic limit) the stress applied to a solid is proportional to the strain produced
-
Hubble law, Hubble's law
(astronomy) the generalization that the speed of recession of distant galaxies (the red shift) is proportional to their distance from the observer
-
Kepler's law, Kepler's law of planetary motion
(astronomy) one of three empirical laws of planetary motion stated by Johannes Kepler
-
Kirchhoff's laws
(physics) two laws governing electric networks in which steady currents flow: the sum of all the currents at a point is zero and the sum of the voltage gains and drops around any closed circuit is zero
-
law of averages
a law affirming that in the long run probabilities will determine performance
-
law of constant proportion, law of definite proportions
(chemistry) law stating that every pure substance always contains the same elements combined in the same proportions by weight
-
law of diminishing returns
a law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectiveness
-
law of effect
(psychology) the principle that behaviors are selected by their consequences; behavior having good consequences tends to be repeated whereas behavior that leads to bad consequences is not repeated
-
law of equivalent proportions, law of reciprocal proportions
(chemistry) law stating that the proportions in which two elements separately combine with a third element are also the proportions in which they combine together
-
Newton's law of gravitation, law of gravitation
(physics) the law that states any two bodies attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them
-
Dalton's law, law of multiple proportions
(chemistry) law stating that when two elements can combine to form more than one compound the amounts of one of them that combines with a fixed amount of the other will exhibit a simple multiple relation
-
law of mass action
(chemistry) the law that states the following principle: the rate of a chemical reaction is directly proportional to the molecular concentrations of the reacting substances
-
law of thermodynamics
(physics) a law governing the relations between states of energy in a closed system
-
Mendel's law
(genetics) one of two principles of heredity formulated by Gregor Mendel on the basis of his experiments with plants; the principles were limited and modified by subsequent genetic research
-
Newton's law, Newton's law of motion, law of motion
one of three basic laws of classical mechanics
-
Ohm's law
electric current is directly proportional to voltage and inversely proportional to resistance; I = E/R
-
Pascal's law, Pascal's law of fluid pressures
pressure applied anywhere to a body of fluid causes a force to be transmitted equally in all directions; the force acts at right angles to any surface in contact with the fluid
-
Pauli exclusion principle, exclusion principle
no two electrons or protons or neutrons in a given system can be in states characterized by the same set of quantum numbers
-
Mendeleev's law, periodic law
(chemistry) the principle that chemical properties of the elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbers
-
Planck's law
(physics) the basis of quantum theory; the energy of electromagnetic waves is contained in indivisible quanta that have to be radiated or absorbed as a whole; the magnitude is proportional to frequency where the constant of proportionality is given by Planck's constant
-
Planck's radiation law
(physics) an equation that expresses the distribution of energy in the radiated spectrum of an ideal black body
-
hypothetical
a hypothetical possibility, circumstance, statement, proposal, situation, etc.
-
gemmule
the physically discrete element that Darwin proposed as responsible for heredity
-
framework, model, theoretical account
a hypothetical description of a complex entity or process
-
conjecture, speculation
a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence)
-
assumption, supposal, supposition
a hypothesis that is taken for granted
-
principle of relativity
(physics) a universal law that states that the laws of mechanics are not affected by a uniform rectilinear motion of the system of coordinates to which they are referred
-
Stevens' law, Stevens' power law, power law
(psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to a power of the stimulus intensity
-
Weber's law
(psychophysics) the concept that a just-noticeable difference in a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus
-
binomial
(mathematics) a quantity expressed as a sum or difference of two terms; a polynomial with two terms
-
historicism
a theory that social and cultural events are determined by history
-
sound law
a law describing sound changes in the history of a language
-
linguistic universal, universal
(linguistics) a grammatical rule (or other linguistic feature) that is found in all languages
-
grammatical rule, rule of grammar
a linguistic rule for the syntax of grammatical utterances
-
morphological rule, rule of morphology
a linguistic rule for the formation of words
-
chukka, chukker
(polo) one of six divisions into which a polo match is divided
-
frame, inning
(baseball) one of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat
-
game
(tennis) a division of play during which one player serves
-
bout, round, turn
(sports) a division during which one team is on the offensive
-
first period
the first division into which the play of a game is divided
-
second period
the second division into which the play of a game is divided
-
final period
the final division into which the play of a game is divided
-
half
one of two divisions into which some games or performances are divided: the two divisions are separated by an interval
-
period
(ice hockey) one of three divisions into which play is divided in hockey games
-
quarter
(football, professional basketball) one of four divisions into which some games are divided
-
over
(cricket) the division of play during which six balls are bowled at the batsman by one player from the other team from the same end of the pitch
-
input
(mathematics) a quantity or variable that, when fed into a function, results in a single output
-
output
(mathematics) the result or solution of a function that is associated with a single input
-
misconception
Pronunciation
US
/ˌkɑnˈsɛpt/
UK
/ˈkɒnsɛpt/
Cite this entry
Style:
MLA
- MLA
- APA
- Chicago
Copy citation
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘concept'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
Send us feedback
Word Family
Vocabulary lists containing concept
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
The top 1,000 vocabulary words have been carefully chosen to represent difficult but common words that appear in everyday academic and business writing. These words are also the most likely to appear on the SAT, ACT, GRE, and ToEFL. To create this list, we started with the words that give our users the most trouble and then ranked them by how frequently they appear in our corpus of billions of words from edited sources. If you only have time to study one list of words, this is the list.
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 5
How can you perform well on the reading section of the SAT if you don’t fully understand the language being used in the directions and in the questions? Learn this list of 25 words that are based on our analysis of the words likely to appear in question stems, answer options, and test directions. Following our Roadmap to the SAT? Head back to see what else you should be learning this week.
The New SAT: The Language of the Test
How can you perform well on the new reading section of the SAT if you don’t fully understand the language being used in the directions and in the questions? Learn this list of 150 words that are based on our analysis of the words likely to appear in question stems, answer options and test directions. Here are all of our word lists to help you prepare for the new SAT (debuting March of 2016): The Language of the Test, Multiple-Meaning Words, and Words to Capture Tone.