notion
noun
Simple meaning
Mental apprehension of whatever may be known, thought.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nohshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnoʊʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Mental apprehension of whatever may be known, thought, or imagined; idea, concept.
A sentiment; an opinion.
Any small article used in sewing and haberdashery, either for attachment to garments or as a tool, such as a button, zipper, or thimble.
colloquial
Inclination; intention; predisposition; disposition.
colloquial
An invention; an ingenious device; a knickknack.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Mental apprehension of whatever may be known, thought, or imagined; idea, concept.
Used this way, notion is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use notion
- “The theatrical notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his stories.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Counter where notions are sold.
An opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence.
An irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: mental apprehension of whatever may be known or thought
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.