Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use conceit in a sentence

22 example sentences · noun, verb

Conceit means something conceived in the mind; an idea, a thought. Example: “In the next and final stanza, Donne expands the conceit of world exploration to present us with a further distinction between the spirituality of the lovers and the “map reader” and “sea-discoverers.””

Examples of conceit by meaning

nounThe faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension.

  • a man of quick conceit

nounAn ingenious expression or metaphorical idea, especially in extended form or used as a literary or rhetorical device.

  • In the next and final stanza, Donne expands the conceit of world exploration to present us with a further distinction between the spirituality of the lovers and the “map reader” and “sea-discoverers.”2009, Harold Bloom, John Donne, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 16
  • Its conceit was to relate historical incidents as if TV had existed at the time.2020 January 22, Stuart Jeffries, “Terry Jones obituary”, in The Guardian

More sentences with conceit

  • Everett’s novels make abundant use of language games, conceits and disquisitions.2024 April 6, David Shariatmadari, “‘I’d love a scathing review’: novelist Percival Everett on American Fiction and rewriting Huckleberry…. From the entry disquisition
  • This hunt was both a classic Rudolfine conceit and at the heart of the mystery of Rudolf.2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 134. From the entry Rudolphine
  • Rival poets in Scotland exchanged flytings that were packed with riddling conceits.2007, Marina Warner, “Doubly Damned”, in London Review of Books, 29:3, p. 26. From the entry flyting
  • Conceit as discors concordia involves the comparison of unlike things, the finding of similarity in dissimilarity.2006, Vernon Hyde Minor, The Death of the Baroque and the Rhetoric of Good Taste, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 9. From the entry concetto
  • He highlights the stylistic conceits and ambiguity that often turn quite ordinary statements into ponderous pedantics.1992, College Student Journal, page 86. From the entry pedantics
  • Remove the narrowness, the conceit, and the falseness in our lives.1956, Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress, Volume 102, Part 9. From the entry bigotness
  • Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language.1927, Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, page 20. From the entry obsequious
  • There is the world of the bibliopegically curious which, full of charming conceits, can be expensive to journey in.1982, Grant Uden, “'The Art, Mystery and Manual Occupation' of Bookbinding”, in Understanding Book-Collecting, Woodbridge, Suffolk…. From the entry bibliopegically
  • God, if she only knew what manner of sugarplums danced in my head when she gave tongue to such delicious conceits.1979, William Styron, chapter 11, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Bantam, published 1980, page 378. From the entry give tongue
  • Their faces changed, and all the meanness, conceit, cruelty, and sneakishness almost disappeared in one single expression of terror.1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 16, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998. From the entry sneakishness
  • The creature of a vitiated æstheticism, he could only suppose that conceit had played an abominable trick on his eyesight.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 133. From the entry vitiate
  • Just like a bamboo is hollow-hearted, he ought to open his heart to accept whatsoever of help and not ever have conceit either bias.2015, Donna Rivas, Bamboo 222 Success Secrets - 222 Most Asked Questions On Bamboo, →ISBN. From the entry hollow-hearted
  • The traditional conceit that places China in the middle of the world is aptly reflected in the diffusion of the ten kings westward and eastward.1994, Stephen F. Teiser, The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism, Honolulu: University of…. From the entry T'u-lu-fan
  • Gabriele Salvatores's "Mediterraneo" is a deliberately charming comedy whose most daring conceit is that love, in one form and another, makes the world go around.1992 March 22, Vincent Canby, “Review/Film Festival: Roundelay Of Love On an Isle In Wartime”, in New York Times, retrieved 05 Oct 2015. From the entry make the world go around
  • England has suffered cruelly because she would not think, because she was case-armoured in her insular conceit and the urbacity of her politicians.1918, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, volume 125, page 388. From the entry urbacity
  • If so, the absence of defensive walls proved a fatal conceit, because the last emperor lacked a defensible refuge after his forces were vanquished at Mu-yeh.2011, Ralph D. Sawyer, Ancient Chinese Warfare, Basic Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 118. From the entry Mu-yeh
  • Something about this gutsy, heartfelt drama from screenwriter Robert D Siegel and director Darren Aronofsky alchemises Rourke’s conceit into a terrifically engaging, likable and even vulnerable performance.2009 January 16, Peter Bradshaw, “The Wrestler review – heartfelt drama that alchemises a terrific central performance”, in The Guardian. From the entry alchemise
  • For this reason, Washington is a wonderful and proven humbler of the Texan conceit: Washington isn't a state, and yet it is metaphorically bigger than Texas.2001 January 19, Hank Stuever, “A Fantasy as Big As All Texas”, in Washington Post. From the entry truck
  • The sciolist is dangerous in politics, as elsewhere, because his knowledge is imperfect and superficial and his conceit is apt to be in proportion to his ignorance.1907, Religious Education Association, The Materials of Religious Education: Being the Principal Papers Present at, and the Proceedings of…. From the entry sciolist

Meaning of conceit

  1. noun Something conceived in the mind; an idea, a thought.
  2. noun The faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension.
  3. noun Quickness of apprehension; active imagination; lively fancy.

Full definition of conceit

Questions about conceit in a sentence

How do you use conceit in a sentence?
Conceit is used as a noun and verb. For example: “In the next and final stanza, Donne expands the conceit of world exploration to present us with a further distinction between the spirituality of the lovers and the “map reader” and “sea-discoverers.””
What is a short sentence with conceit?
“a man of quick conceit”
What does conceit mean?
Conceit means something conceived in the mind; an idea, a thought.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: conceit (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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