as in assumptions
an attitude, belief, or impression formed in advance of actual experience of something
tried to go into the training sessions without any preconceptions
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Recent Examples of preconceptions
Chili tastes are highly personal, often inflexible and loaded with preconceptions — the political party of culinary offerings.
—
The Know, Denver Post, 24 Jan. 2026
Based on his 2020 short film, Meeks draws from his personal ties to Ohio to upbraid our preconceptions about the cyclical nature of addiction and recovery.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 21 Jan. 2026
On the slopes, long-standing ethnic and religious divides are briefly set aside, with rivals cheering one another on despite their fraught history and preconceptions.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025
Despite McGuire acquiescing to reader’s preconceptions of the witch, the mysterious flying broom was not a central item in Elphaba’s initial rejection of the Wizard’s autocratic reign.
—Time, 21 Nov. 2025
Like the partisan preconceptions surrounding Benioff and his New York Times interview, the faulty assumptions about Salesforce’s future performance are missing the bigger picture.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025
In other words, anyone open-minded enough to set aside popular preconceptions about the genre really can find their perfect match.
—Karen Ostergren, The Atlantic, 13 Oct. 2025
Also not fitting the West’s preconceptions was the fact that most Soviet dissidents didn’t reject socialism.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 3 Oct. 2025
And in 2008, the physicist Hossein Partovi of California State University identified a particularly dramatic implication of the way quantum entanglement can undermine preconceptions derived from classical thermodynamics.
—Quanta Magazine, 1 Oct. 2025
The Know, Denver Post, 24 Jan. 2026
Based on his 2020 short film, Meeks draws from his personal ties to Ohio to upbraid our preconceptions about the cyclical nature of addiction and recovery.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 21 Jan. 2026
On the slopes, long-standing ethnic and religious divides are briefly set aside, with rivals cheering one another on despite their fraught history and preconceptions.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025
Despite McGuire acquiescing to reader’s preconceptions of the witch, the mysterious flying broom was not a central item in Elphaba’s initial rejection of the Wizard’s autocratic reign.
—Time, 21 Nov. 2025
Like the partisan preconceptions surrounding Benioff and his New York Times interview, the faulty assumptions about Salesforce’s future performance are missing the bigger picture.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025
In other words, anyone open-minded enough to set aside popular preconceptions about the genre really can find their perfect match.
—Karen Ostergren, The Atlantic, 13 Oct. 2025
Also not fitting the West’s preconceptions was the fact that most Soviet dissidents didn’t reject socialism.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 3 Oct. 2025
And in 2008, the physicist Hossein Partovi of California State University identified a particularly dramatic implication of the way quantum entanglement can undermine preconceptions derived from classical thermodynamics.
—Quanta Magazine, 1 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for preconceptions
Noun
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That runs counter to decades of assumptions about Chondrichthyan fishes, the group that includes sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras.—
Melissa Cristina Márquez,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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The community response is not only defending people, but also providing a powerful counter-narrative that is proving MAGA’s assumptions about America wrong.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Those are, indeed, pat, credible theories and predictions.—
Théoden Janes,
Charlotte Observer,
8 Jan. 2026
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But now, in the planet’s capital city of Apperax, a murder is committed with no suspects, forensics or theories.—
Aaron Couch,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Preconceptions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/preconceptions. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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