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notion
5 dictionary results for: notion
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
no·tion       [noh-shuhn] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a general understanding; vague or imperfect conception or idea of something: a notion of how something should be done.
2.an opinion, view, or belief: That's his notion, not mine.
3.conception or idea: his notion of democracy.
4.a fanciful or foolish idea; whim: She had a notion to swim in the winter.
5.an ingenious article, device, or contrivance; knickknack.
6.notions, small articles, as buttons, thread, ribbon, and other personal items, esp. such items displayed together for sale, as in a department store.
[Origin: 1560–70; < L nōtiōn- (s. of nōtiō) examination, idea, equiv. to nōt(us) ptp. of nōscere (see notify) + -iōn- -ion]

—Related forms
no·tion·less, adjective

—Synonyms 1, 3. See idea.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
no·tion       (nō'shən)  Pronunciation Key 


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n.  
  1. A belief or opinion.
  2. A mental image or representation; an idea or conception.
  3. A fanciful impulse; a whim. See Synonyms at idea.
  4. notions Small lightweight items for household use, such as needles, buttons, and thread.


[Middle English nocioun, concept, from Latin nōtiō, nōtiōn-, from nōtus, known, past participle of nōscere, to get to know; see gnō- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
notion 
1533 (implied in notional), from L. notionem (nom. notio) "concept," from notus, pp. of noscere "come to know." Coined by Cicero as a loan-translation of Gk. ennoia "act of thinking, notion, conception," or prolepsis "previous notion, previous conception." Notions "miscellaneous articles" (1805, Amer.Eng.) springs from the idea of "clever invention."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
notion

noun
1. a vague idea in which some confidence is placed; "his impression of her was favorable"; "what are your feelings about the crisis?"; "it strengthened my belief in his sincerity"; "I had a feeling that she was lying" [syn: impression] 
2. a general inclusive concept 
3. an odd or fanciful or capricious idea; "the theatrical notion of disguise is associated with disaster in his stories"; "he had a whimsy about flying to the moon"; "whimsy can be humorous to someone with time to enjoy it" 
4. (usually plural) small personal articles or clothing or sewing items; "buttons and needles are notions" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Notion

No"tion\, [L. notio, fr. noscere to know: cf. F. notion. See Know.]

1. 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 not[ae].

What hath been generally agreed on, I content myself to assume under the notion of principles. --Sir I. Newton.

Few agree in their notions about these words. --Cheyne.

That notion of hunger, cold, sound, color, thought, wish, or fear which is in the mind, is called the "idea" of hunger, cold, etc. --I. Watts.

Notion, again, signifies either the act of apprehending, signalizing, that is, the remarking or taking note of, the various notes, marks, or characters of an object which its qualities afford, or the result of that act. --Sir W. Hamilton.

2. A sentiment; an opinion.

The extravagant notion they entertain of themselves. --Addison.

A perverse will easily collects together a system of notions to justify itself in its obliquity. --J. H. Newman.

3. Sense; mind. [Obs.] --Shak.

4. An invention; an ingenious device; a knickknack; as, Yankee notions. [Colloq.]

5. Inclination; intention; disposition; as, I have a notion to do it. [Colloq.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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