Other forms: preconceptions
A preconception is an idea formed before you knew anything. Challenge your preconceptions, without preconceptions, a set of preconceptions.
It is not the same as a prejudice, which is a judgement: a preconception is an expectation, and it shapes what you notice rather than what you decide. Going in without any is impossible, which is why researchers write theirs down first.
1nounpreconceptionAn idea formed before you knew anything.
“I had a preconception that the town would be dull, but I loved it.”
preconception is an expectation.
Middle English
concepcioun
English
conception
English, today
preconception
Built from
From pre- + conception. conception comes from Middle English concepcioun. From Middle English concepcioun, borrowed from Old French conception, from Latin conceptiō (“a comprehending, a collection, composition, an expression, also a becoming pregnant”), from concipiō, past participle conceptus (“conceive”); see conceive. Equivalent to conceive + tion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA