conceit

Definitions

con- ("together") + ceit (a surface form of capere, "take/grasp") = literally "an idea grasped together," originally just "a conception, a notion." Over time the meaning narrowed to one particular notion: the too-flattering idea you hold of yourself → vanity. The literary sense kept the older meaning of "a clever conceived image."

Why It Means This

Conceit is the same con- + capere as concept and conceive, but it took a moral turn. In Middle English it simply meant "an idea or notion" — something the mind had grasped. The shift came from phrases about people who held an inflated notion of themselves; eventually "conceit" alone came to mean that self-flattering idea, i.e. vanity. The literary term (a "metaphysical conceit") preserves the neutral, older sense: a strikingly clever image the poet has conceived.

Common Collocations

• 1.intellectual conceit智识上的自负
• 2.vanity and conceit虚荣与自负
• 3.an extended conceit一个延伸的奇喻

Example Sentences

• 1.

  His conceit made it impossible to admit any mistake.

• 2.

  Success seemed only to feed her conceit.

• 3.

  The poem builds on an extended conceit comparing love to a voyage.