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idea

Pronunciation: /ʌɪˈdɪə/

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Definition of idea

noun

  • 1a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action:recently, the idea of linking pay to performance has caught on it’s a good idea to do some research before you go
  • [in singular] a mental impression:our menu list will give you some idea of how interesting a low-fat diet can be
  • an opinion or belief:nineteenth-century ideas about drinking
  • 2 (the idea) the aim or purpose:I took a job with the idea of getting some money together
  • 3 Philosophy (in Platonic thought) an eternally existing pattern of which individual things in any class are imperfect copies.
  • (in Kantian thought) a concept of pure reason, not empirically based in experience.

Phrases

get (or give someone) ideas

informal become (or make someone) ambitious, conceited, or tempted to do something:I don’t want you getting any ideas about me just because we’re thrown together like this

have (got) no idea

informal not know at all:she had no idea where she was going

not someone's idea of

informal not what someone regards as typical of:it’s not my idea of a happy ending

put ideas into someone's head

suggest aspirations that a person would not otherwise have had.

that's an idea

informal that suggestion or proposal is worth considering.

that's the idea

informal used to confirm that someone has understood something or they are doing something correctly:‘A sort of bodyguard?’ ‘That’s the idea.’

the very idea!

informal an exclamation of disapproval or disagreement.

Origin:

late Middle English (in idea (sense 3)): via Latin from Greek idea 'form, pattern', from the base of idein 'to see'

idea in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of idea in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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