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conceit
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As a noun, conceit means the faculty of conceiving ideas.
Meanings of conceit
16 meaningsnoun
The faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension.
“a man of quick conceit”
Quickness of apprehension; active imagination; lively fancy.
now raredialectalEsteem, favourable opinion.
A novel or fanciful idea; a whim.
rhetoricliteratureAn ingenious expression or metaphorical idea, especially in extended form or used as a literary or rhetorical device.
Overly high self-esteem; vain pride; hubris.
Design; pattern.
An elaborate poetic image or a far-fetched comparison of very dissimilar things
A witty or ingenious turn of phrase
“he could always come up with some inspired off-the-wall conceit”
An artistic device or effect
“the architect's brilliant conceit was to build the house around the tree”
The trait of being unduly vain and conceited; false pride
Similar: conceitedness, vanity
Older and rare meanings (2)
obsoleteSomething conceived in the mind; an idea, a thought.
obsoleteOpinion, (neutral) judgment.
verb
obsoleteTo form an idea; to think.
obsoleteTo conceive.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).