conceivable

Etymology

It is formed from English conceive + -able.^[2][3][4][5] The Shorter Oxford compares French concevable.^[4] Conceive is from Old French conceveir, from Latin concipiō (“to take in and hold; to become pregnant”), formed from con- and capiō (“to take”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Capable of being conceived, understood or imagined: about 1443, in Reginald Pecock's Reule of Crysten Religioun.^[2] The Middle English Dictionary quotes Pecock again about 1454, in the sense "comprehensible", where things are called "vndirstondable, or conceyuable of vs".^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1425–75.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED revised the entry in 2015: its 1989 edition began with 1586 and an obsolete sense "that can be received or taken in", and dated the sense "that can be imagined" only from 1646.^[7][2] From 1615 the adjective was used for emphasis after all, any, every, no or a superlative, to stress that every possibility is included, as in every conceivable way.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "that may be imagined or thought".^[8] From 1659, in Henry More, it was also used as a noun, a conceivable thing.^[2][4] In current use it often means no more than "just possible", as in it is conceivable that….^[4][9]

Timeline

• c. 1443 – capable of being conceived or imagined.^[2][6]
• 1615 – emphatic, after every, any, all or a superlative.^[2]
• 1659 – noun, a conceivable thing.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to be imagined, believed or understood; imaginable: It is hardly conceivable that the letter was lost twice.^[9][10][2]
2. Logically possible: There is one conceivable explanation for the delay.^[10][9][4]
3. Used after every, any or all to stress that no possibility is left out: They searched in every conceivable place.^[2][11]

Noun

1. A conceivable thing.^[2][4]

Word family

• conceivability
• conceivableness
• conceivably
• inconceivable
• unconceivable

Related words

• conceive
• concept
• conception

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster