concettuale

Concettuale is the Italian adjective meaning "conceptual" or "relating to a concept or notion." It derives from concetto (concept) with the suffix -uale and is widely used across disciplines to describe ideas, theories, or representations that emphasize mental content over practical or material aspects. The corresponding noun concettualità denotes the quality of being conceptual.

In the arts, arte concettuale (conceptual art) refers to a movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s and foregrounded the idea behind a work rather than its physical form. Works often rely on language, documentation, instructions, or performances, and the artist’s concept or proposition can be considered the art object itself. The term in Italian discourse parallels the English "conceptual."

In philosophy and theory, concettuale is used to describe investigations into the nature of concepts, definitions, and their organization, such as in analisi concettuale or schema concettuale. It appears in academic writing to discuss conceptual frameworks, models, or theories.

Outside academia, concettuale appears in design, criticism, education, and media to signal an emphasis on ideas and theoretical propositions rather than conventional material features.