Concept

/ˈkɒn.sɛpt/ · noun

Meaning

An abstract and general idea; an abstraction..

Definitions by Sense

1. An abstract and general idea; an abstraction.
2. Understanding retained in the mind, from experience, reasoning and imagination; a generalization (generic, basic form), or abstraction (mental impression), of a particular set of instances or occurrences (specific, though different, recorded manifestations of the concept).
3. (generic programming) A description of supported operations on a type, including their syntax and semantics.
4. To conceive; to dream up.

Example Sentences

The words conception, concept, notion, should be limited to the thought of what can not be represented in the imagination; as, the thought suggested by a general term.

Frege's concepts are very nearly propositional functions in the modern sense. Frege explicitly recognizes them as functions. Like Peirce's rhema, a concept is unsaturated. They are in some sense incomplete. Although Frege never gets beyond the metaphorical in his description of the incompleteness of concepts and other functions, one thing is clear: the distinction between objects and functions is the main division in his metaphysics. There is something special about functions that makes them very different from objects.

Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?

Synonyms for concept

Antonyms for concept

Related Words

Word Forms

• concepts
• concepting
• concepted

Usage Notes

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