What does "conceptualize" mean?

To interpret a phenomenon by forming a concept.

Conceptualize

Common synonyms include: conceive, abstract adjective, abstract only, abstract performance metric, abstract relation, abstracting.

verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Verb

1
To interpret a phenomenon by forming a concept. transitive
"Medicine today conceptualizes the heart as a machine."
2
have the idea for wordnet
3
To conceive the idea for something. transitive
"EconBiz was established as part of the Virtuelle Fachbibliotheken, a network of subject-related online portals conceptualized in the late 1990s and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)."

"The best way to conceptualize looting is as similar to pollution, a byproduct of the economics of the antiquities trade."

From conceptual + -ize.