Dictionary

idea

see also: Idea

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin idea, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα, from εἴδω ("I see"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-.

Pronunciation

(RP) IPA: /aɪ̯ˈdɪə̯/
(America) IPA: /aɪ̯ˈdi.ə/
- (America, Appalachia, r-epenthesis) IPA: /aːˈdɪɹ/
(New Zealand) IPA: /aɪ̯ˈdiə̯/, [ɑe̯ˈdiə̯], [-ˈdeə̯]
(Southern US, obsolete) IPA: /aɪˈdiː/, /ˈaɪdi/

Noun

idea (plural ideas)

(philosophy) An abstract archetype of a given thing, compared to which real-life examples are seen as imperfect approximations; pure essence, as opposed to actual examples. [from 14th c.]
(obsolete) The conception of someone or something as representing a perfect example; an ideal. [16th]
(obsolete) The form or shape of something; a quintessential aspect or characteristic. [16th]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 6, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC ↗:
  The remembrance whereof (which yet I beare deepely imprinted in my minde) representing me her visage and Idea so lively and so naturally, doth in some sort reconcile me unto her.
An image of an object that is formed in the mind or recalled by the memory. [from 16th c.]
The mere idea of you is enough to excite me.
More generally, any result of mental activity; a thought, a notion; a way of thinking. [from 17th c.]
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
  Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.
- 1952, Alfred Whitney Griswold, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
  Ideas won't go to jail.
A conception in the mind of something to be done; a plan for doing something, an intention. [from 17th c.]
I have an idea of how we might escape.
A purposeful aim or goal; intent
Yeah, that's the idea.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
  My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
A vague or fanciful notion; a feeling or hunch; an impression. [from 17th c.]
He had the wild idea that if he leant forward a little, he might be able to touch the mountain-top.
(music) A musical theme or melodic subject. [from 18th c.]