conceit

1 of 2

noun

con·​ceit kən-ˈsēt 

1

a

: favorable opinion

especially : excessive appreciation of one's own worth or virtue

… the landlord's conceit of his own superior knowledge …

—Adam Smith

b(1)

: a result of mental activity : thought

(2)

: individual opinion

2

a

: a fanciful idea

b

: an elaborate or strained metaphor

The poem abounds in metaphysical conceits.

c

: use or presence of such conceits in poetry

d

: an organizing theme or concept

… found his conceit for the film early …

—Peter Wilkinson

… the historian's conceit that the past is forever prologue …

—Leon V. Sigal

3

: a fancy item or trifle

Conceits were fancy desserts, made either of sugar … or pastry.

—Francie Owen

conceit

2 of 2

verb

conceited; conceiting; conceits

transitive verb

1

chiefly dialectal : imagine

2

dialectal British : to take a fancy to

3

obsolete : conceive, understand

Synonyms

Noun

• metaphor

Verb

• conceive
• conjure (up)
• dream
• envisage
• envision
• fancy
• fantasize
• fantasy
• feature
• ideate
• image
• imagine
• picture
• see
• vision
• visualize

Examples of conceit in a Sentence

Noun

His conceit has earned him many enemies.

the conceit that the crowd at the outdoor rock concert was a vast sea of people waving to the beat of the music

Verb

after a huge meal like that, I cannot conceit eating another thing for the rest of the day

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The conceit could easily dissolve into artifice, but Beans, under Danya Taymor’s direction, never lost the thread, binding all three characters into a whole, revealing the many folds of the self. —Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2024

The conceit was that cast members Samberg and Bill Hader were trying to talk SNL creator Lorne Michaels into adding their low-budget sci-fi film to the show. —Raechal Shewfelt, EW.com, 2 Dec. 2024

The same communal conceit that nearly starved the Pilgrims destroyed lives in the Soviet Union and led to mass starvation in China. —John Stossel, Orange County Register, 28 Nov. 2024

For this installment, the conceit was Fleming performing a Stomp-esque show using Taylor Tomlinson’s jokes as the rhythmic element. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from conceivre — see conceive

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b(1)

Verb

1557, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing conceit

• self-conceit

Kids Definition

conceit

noun

con·​ceit

kən-ˈsēt

1

: too much pride in one's own worth or virtue

2

a

: an idea showing imagination

b

: a complicated way of expressing something