conception

n.

1. The act of conceiving mentally

   apprehension, comprehension, imagining, speculating, conceptualization, originating, devising, formulating, bethinking, dreaming, cogitating, deliberating, fancying, philosophizing, realization, considering, musing, speculation, envisaging, understanding, cognition, perception, mental grasp, apperception, formulation of an idea, formulation of a principle, formulation of a mental image, hatching; see also thought 1.

2. The act of conceiving physically

   inception, impregnation, insemination; see fertilization 2.

3. A mental image

   representation, impression, idea, notion; see opinion 1, thought 2.

4. Something that is conceived

   original idea, design, plan, interpretation; see interpretation 2, plan 2. See syn. study at idea.