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# notion

«notion» in Mova's school dictionary: **An idea or belief about something, often a vague or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (notion, notions)

### meaning for a pupil

1) An idea or belief about something, often a vague or mistaken one: «I had a notion that school started at nine». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#m1)

2) A sudden wish or impulse to do something: «She took a notion to paint her room purple». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#m2)

3) (US) Notions: small sewing items like buttons, pins and thread. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#m3)

4) (maths/science, formal) A basic idea or concept: the notion of a number. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#m4)

5) To have no notion of doing something means not to want to do it, or not to think of doing it at all. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In stories it shows a character's thinking: «He had no notion where he was». In school: «the notion of fairness», «the notion of infinity». Phrases: «have no notion», «the notion that», «take a notion» (Ireland, Scotland, US), «a silly notion».

### examples

- I had a notion that the shop was closed on Sundays. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#x1)
- She hadn't the faintest notion what to do. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#x2)
- Where did you get the silly notion that carrots let you see in the dark? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#x3)
- The notion of fairness is important in our class rules. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#x4)
- Gran took a notion to go swimming in the sea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#x5)
- In maths, the notion of zero took people a long time to invent. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#x6)
- The sewing shop sells buttons, ribbons and other notions. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/#x7)

### note

Countable: a notion, notions. Close to «idea», but often vaguer or slightly doubtful. «Have no notion» = have no idea. A «notional» number is one that is imagined or estimated, not real.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «notion» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/notion/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.