conceptual

Borrowed from Medieval Latin conceptuālis, from Latin conceptus, perfect passive participle of concipiō (“take hold of; conceive”); see concept and -al.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kənˈsɛp.tjʊəl/, /kənˈsɛp.t͡ʃʊəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /kənˈsɛp.t͡ʃu.əl/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kənˈsep.t͡ʃʉ.əl/

conceptual (comparative more conceptual, superlative most conceptual)

1. Of, or relating to concepts or mental conception.
   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:

     The repeated exposure, over decades, to most taxa here treated has resulted in repeated modifications of both diagnoses and discussions, as initial ideas of the various taxa underwent—often repeated—conceptual modification.

2. Existing only in the imagination.

   We defined a conceptual model before designing the real thing.

3. Of or relating to conceptualism.

• (of a concept): ideal, notional
• (imaginary): ideal, imaginary, notional
• (of conceptualism): conceptualistic

• concept
• conceptualism

• German: konzeptuell

• “conceptual”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “conceptual”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kun.səp.tuˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kon.səp.tuˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kon.sep.tuˈal]
• Rhymes: -al

conceptual m or f (masculine and feminine plural conceptuals)

1. conceptual

• conceptualisme
• conceptualista
• conceptualitzar

• concepte

• “conceptual”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

conceptual m or f (plural conceptuais)

1. conceptual

• conceptualmente

• concepto

• “conceptual”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin conceptuālis.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: con‧cep‧tu‧al

conceptual m or f (plural conceptuais)

1. alternative form of concetual / conceitual

• conceptualmente

• “conceptual”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “conceptual”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French conceptuel. By surface analysis, concept +‎ -ual.

conceptual m or n (feminine singular conceptuală, masculine plural conceptuali, feminine/neuter plural conceptuale)

1. conceptual

Borrowed from Latin conceptuālis, from conceptus.

• IPA^(key): /konθebˈtwal/ [kõn̟.θeβ̞ˈt̪wal] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /konsebˈtwal/ [kõn.seβ̞ˈt̪wal] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: con‧cep‧tual

conceptual m or f (masculine and feminine plural conceptuales)

1. conceptual

• “conceptual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025