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That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one.

A proposition by which something is denied or forbidden; a conception or term formed by prefixing the negative particle to one which is positive; an opposite or contradictory term or conception. This is a known rule in divinity, that there is no command that runs in negatives but couches under it a positive duty. South…

ect of philosophers in the Middle Ages, who adopted the opinion of Roscelin, that general conceptions, or universals, exist in name only. Reid.

Mental apprehension of whatever may be known or imagined; an idea; a conception; more properly, a general or universal conception, as distinguishable or definable by marks or notæ. What hath been generally agreed on, I content myself to assume under the notion of principles. Sir I. Newton. Few agree in their notions ab…

Consisting of, or conveying, notions or ideas; expressing abstract conceptions.

In mental apprehension; in conception; not in reality. Two faculties . . . notionally or really distinct. Norris.

he mind by any of its activities takes cognizance, whether a thing external in space or a conception formed by the mind itself; as, an object of knowledge, wonder, fear, thought, study, etc. Object is a term for that about which the knowing subject is conversant; what the schoolmen have styled the "materia circa quam."…

version, no men are immortal. This is also described as "immediate inference by privative conception." Bain.

angels and archangels. He is represented as a bearded man inclosed in a winged circle, a conception probably derived from the Assyrian representations of Ashur.

Of or pertaining to eggs; done in the egg, or inception; as, oval conceptions. [Obs.]

That which is perceived. Sir W. Hamilton. The modern discussion between percept and concept, the one sensuous, the other intellectual. Max Müller.

t of apperhending material objects or qualities through the senses; -- distinguished from conception. Sir W. Hamilton. Matter hath no life nor perception, and is not conscious of its own existence. Bentley.

An elevated rational and ethical conception of the laws and forces of the universe; sometimes, imaginative or fantastic philosophical notions.

tion or contrast (Logic), an opposition or contrast made by the existence of two opposite conceptions which are the extremes in a species, as white and black in colors; hence, as great an opposition or contrast as possible. -- Polar projection. See under Projection. -- Polar spherical triangle (Spherics), a spherical…

An opinion or notion formed beforehand; a preconception. Hooker.

ul study from nature, delicacy and minuteness of workmanship, and an exalted and delicate conception of the subject.

Previous sentiment, conception, or opinion; previous apprehension; especially, an antecedent impression or conviction of something unpleasant, distressing, or calamitous, about to happen; anticipation of evil; foreboding.

Bringing a conception or notion directly before the mind; presenting an object to the memory of imagination; -- distinguished from symbolic. How greatly the word "will" is felt to have lost presentive power in the last three centuries. Earle. -- Pre*sent"ive*ly, adv. -- Pre*sent"ive*ness, n.

Relating to promorphology; as, a promorphological conception.

phology created by Haeckel. It is essentially stereometric, and relates to a mathematical conception of organic forms. See Tectology.