conceiving

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of conceive.

   She is conceiving an entirely new design for the bridge.

   Conceiving of so many characters at once exhausted the young writer.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every meaning of the verb, and the construction around it often tells them apart. Without an object it often points to pregnancy (they had trouble conceiving). With a direct object it means devising (conceiving a plan). Followed by of, it means picturing or imagining (conceiving of a world without cars). As a gerund it can also stand as a subject: conceiving of it was the hard part.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The process of becoming pregnant, or of forming an idea or plan in the mind.

   The conceiving of the entire novel came to her during a long train ride.

   After years of hoping, the conceiving of a child finally brought them great joy.

   Similarconception, creation, formation, genesis

   Note

   Unlike the verb's gerund, this is a true noun: it takes an article and a plural. Richard Baxter's The Saints' Everlasting Rest (1650) speaks of mere names used "without any true conceivings of the things which they signify." There each conceiving is a separate notion that can be counted. The quick test is the object. The noun needs of before it (the conceiving of a plan), while the gerund takes its object directly (conceiving a plan).

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