concept

Definitions

con- ("together") + cept ("take," the past-participle form captus of capere) = "something taken together" in the mind. When your mind gathers many separate impressions and grasps them as one unified idea, that bundled idea is a concept. Compare its verb conceive, which uses the -ceive spelling of the same root.

Why It Means This

A concept is literally what the mind "takes together." The Latin captus (taken) plus con- (together) describes the act of seizing scattered impressions and holding them as a single idea. That is exactly what a concept is: not one object but a generalized mental grasp of many — the concept "chair" covers every chair you've ever seen.

Common Collocations

• 1.basic concept基本概念
• 2.grasp a concept理解一个概念
• 3.the concept of……的概念
• 4.key concept核心概念
• 5.design concept设计理念

Example Sentences

• 1.

  The concept of freedom means different things to different people.

• 2.

  Students need to grasp the basic concepts first.

• 3.

  The whole marketing concept is built around simplicity.

Easily Confused

concept vs conception: concept is the idea itself (the concept of justice). conception is more about the act of forming it, or one's personal understanding (her conception of justice). Concept = the thing; conception = the forming or the personal version.