conceited

Etymology

It is formed from English conceit + -ed,^[2][3][4][5] from the noun, and in some later uses partly from the verb conceit.^[2][5] Etymonline takes it instead as a past-participle adjective from the verb, now obsolete, and treats the "vain" sense as short for self-conceited (1590s).^[6] The noun itself is usually explained as formed from conceive on the analogy of deceive and deceit, receive and receipt,^[7][6][8][4] though the American Heritage Dictionary derives it from Anglo-Norman conceite, from Late Latin conceptus.^[9] The verb conceive goes back through French to Latin concipiō (“to take in and hold, to conceive”).^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

With a modifying word, having a mind of a particular kind, inclined to think in a certain way: about 1536, in W. Marshall's Luther's Images.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives a first known use of 1525 for its related sense "disposed in opinion",^[3] Dictionary.com 1535–45,^[4] and Etymonline the 1540s, for "ingenious, witty".^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word follows the senses of its base: since conceit first meant a thought or conception,^[7][6] conceited described a person's turn of mind (well conceited) and hence meant clever (1579–94) or witty and amusing (from 1583).^[2][5] It also described what the mind devised: things imagined (1543–1740), fancifully dressed people (1579–95), whimsical characters (from 1588) and elaborately wrought objects (1598–1702).^[2] Johnson (1755) still gave "endowed with fancy" first, then "proud; fond of himself".^[11] The sense "having too high an opinion of oneself" is recorded in the revised OED from 1579,^[2] earlier than the about 1600 of Etymonline and the early 17th century of the Shorter Oxford,^[6][5] and it grew beside self-conceited;^[6] Barnhart traces the matching sense of conceit to self-conceit.^[7] The others faded, though the opinion sense survived in dialect,^[2][5] "fastidious, full of notions" in Yorkshire,^[2] and consated, in good spirits, in Warwickshire.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1536 – with a modifying word, having a mind of a particular kind (obsolete by 1705).^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates “disposed in opinion” to 1525.^[3]
• 1542 – with a modifying word, conceived or devised in a particular way (obsolete by 1841).^[2]
• 1543 – imagined, imaginary (obsolete by 1740).^[2]
• 1579 – having an excessively high opinion of oneself; also clever, ingenious (obsolete by 1594), and fancifully dressed (obsolete by 1595).^[2]
• 1583 – witty, amusing.^[2]
• 1585 – having an opinion of a particular kind.^[2]
• 1588 – fanciful, whimsical (obsolete by 1864).^[2]
• 1598 – of an object: elaborately wrought, in Chapman (obsolete by 1702).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having too high an opinion of oneself or one's abilities; vain: He grew so conceited that he stopped asking anyone for advice.^[13][3][2]
2. (rare) Witty or amusing.^[2][13]
3. Ingeniously contrived; of a literary style, marked by conceits.^[3][2]
4. (archaic) Fanciful, whimsical.^[13][2][5]
5. (obsolete, 1579–1594) Intelligent, clever.^[2][3][13]
6. (obsolete) Disposed in opinion, minded, especially favourably.^[3][2][5]

Word family

• conceitedly
• conceitedness
• unconceited

Related words

• conceit
• conceive
• self-conceited

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins