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Webster 1913 Edition

Idea

I-de′a

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Ideas
(#)
.
[L.
idea
, Gr. [GREEK], fr. [GREEK] to see; akin to E.
wit
: cf. F.
idée
. See
Wit
.]
1.
The transcript, image, or picture of a visible object, that is formed by the mind; also, a similar image of any object whatever, whether sensible or spiritual.
Her sweet
idea
wandered through his thoughts.
Fairfax.
Being the right
idea
of your father
Both in your form and nobleness of mind.
Shakespeare
This representation or likeness of the object being transmitted from thence [the senses] to the imagination, and lodged there for the view and observation of the pure intellect, is aptly and properly called its
idea
.
P. Browne.
2.
A general notion, or a conception formed by generalization.
Alice had not the slightest
idea
what latitude was.
L. Caroll.
3.
Hence: Any object apprehended, conceived, or thought of, by the mind; a notion, conception, or thought; the real object that is conceived or thought of.
Whatsoever the mind perceives in itself, or as the immediate object of perception, thought, or undersanding, that I call
idea
.
Locke.
4.
A belief, option, or doctrine; a characteristic or controlling principle;
as, an essential
idea
; the
idea
of development.
That fellow seems to me to possess but one
idea
, and that is a wrong one.
Johnson.
What is now “
idea
” for us? How infinite the fall of this word, since the time where Milton sang of the Creator contemplating his newly-created world, –
“how it showed . . .
Answering his great
idea
,” –
to its present use, when this person “has an
idea
that the train has started,” and the other “had no
idea
that the dinner would be so bad!”
Trench.
5.
A plan or purpose of action; intention; design.
I shortly afterwards set off for that capital, with an
idea
of undertaking while there the translation of the work.
W. Irving.
6.
A rational conception; the complete conception of an object when thought of in all its essential elements or constituents; the necessary metaphysical or constituent attributes and relations, when conceived in the abstract.
7.
A fiction object or picture created by the imagination; the same when proposed as a pattern to be copied, or a standard to be reached; one of the archetypes or patterns of created things, conceived by the Platonists to have excited objectively from eternity in the mind of the Deity.
Thence to behold this new-created world,
The addition of his empire, how it showed
In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,
Answering his great
idea
.
Milton.
☞ “In England, Locke may be said to have been the first who naturalized the term in its Cartesian universality. When, in common language, employed by Milton and Dryden, after Descartes, as before him by Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Hooker, etc., the meaning is Platonic.”
Sir W. Hamilton.
Syn. – Notion; conception; thought; sentiment; fancy; image; perception; impression; opinion; belief; observation; judgment; consideration; view; design; intention; purpose; plan; model; pattern.
–
There is scarcely any other word which is subjected to such abusive treatment as is the word idea, in the very general and indiscriminative way in which it is employed, as it is used variously to signify almost any act, state, or content of thought.

Webster 1828 Edition

Idea

IDE'A

,
Noun.
[L. idea; Gr. to see, L. video.]
1.
Literally, that which is seen; hence, form, image, model of any thing in the mind; that which is held or comprehended by the understanding or intellectual faculties.
I have used the idea, to express whatever is meant by phantasm, notion, species, or whatever it is which the mind can be employed about in thinking.
Whatever the mind perceives in itself, or is the immediate object of perception, thought or understanding, that I call an idea.
The attention of the understanding to the objects acting on it, by which it becomes sensible of the impressions they make, is called by logicians, perception, and the notices themselves as they exist in the mind, as the materials of thinking and knowledge, are distinguished by the name of ideas.
An idea is the reflex perception of objects, after the original perception or impression has been felt by the mind.
In popular language, idea signifies the same thing as conception, apprehension, notion. To have an idea of any thing is to conceive it. In philosophical use, it does not signify that act of the mind which we call thought or conception, but some object of thought.
According to modern writers on mental philosophy, an idea is the object of thought, or the notice which the mind takes of its perceptions.
Darwin uses idea for a notion of external things which our organs bring us acquainted with originally, and he defines it, a contraction, motion or configuration of the fibers which constitute the immediate organ of sense; synonymous with which he sometimes uses sensual motion, in contradistinction to muscular motion.
1.
In popular use, idea signifies notion, conception, thought, opinion, and even purpose or intention.
2.
Image in the mind.
Her sweet idea wandered through his thoughts.
[A bad use of the word.]
3.
An opinion; a proposition. These decisions are incompatible with the idea, that the principles are derived from the civil law.

Definition 2024

idea

idea

See also: ideá, -idea, and idea-

English

Noun

idea ‎(plural ideas or (rare) ideæ)

  1. (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.]
    • 2013 October 19, “Trouble at the lab”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8858:
      The idea that the same experiments always get the same results, no matter who performs them, is one of the cornerstones of science’s claim to objective truth. If a systematic campaign of replication does not lead to the same results, then either the original research is flawed (as the replicators claim) or the replications are (as many of the original researchers on priming contend). Either way, something is awry.
  2. (obsolete) The conception of someone or something as representing a perfect example; an ideal. [16th-19th c.]
  3. (obsolete) The form or shape of something; a quintessential aspect or characteristic. [16th-18th c.]
  4. 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.‎
  5. More generally, any result of mental activity; a thought, a notion; a way of thinking. [from 17th c.]
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 3, in The Celebrity:
      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
      Ideas won't go to jail.
  6. 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.‎
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      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.
    • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
      Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.
  7. 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.‎
  8. (music) A musical theme or melodic subject. [from 18th c.]

Synonyms

  • (mental transcript, image, or picture): image

Descendants

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

External links

  • idea in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • idea in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: electronic · sea · necessary · #458: idea · reached · appeared · spoke

Anagrams

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin idea, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”), from εἴδω ‎(eídō, “I see”).

Noun

idea f ‎(plural idees)

  1. idea

Related terms

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin idea, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”), from εἴδω ‎(eídō, “I see”).

Noun

idea f ‎(plural idees)

  1. idea (all senses)

Related terms

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪdɛa/

Noun

idea f

  1. idea (that which exists in the mind as the result of mental activity)

Related terms

Finnish

Noun

idea

  1. idea

Declension

Inflection of idea (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative idea ideat
genitive idean ideoiden
ideoitten
partitive ideaa ideoita
illative ideaan ideoihin
singular plural
nominative idea ideat
accusative nom. idea ideat
gen. idean
genitive idean ideoiden
ideoitten
ideainrare
partitive ideaa ideoita
inessive ideassa ideoissa
elative ideasta ideoista
illative ideaan ideoihin
adessive idealla ideoilla
ablative idealta ideoilta
allative idealle ideoille
essive ideana ideoina
translative ideaksi ideoiksi
instructive — ideoin
abessive ideatta ideoitta
comitative — ideoineen

Galician

Etymology

From Latin idea, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”), from εἴδω ‎(eídō, “I see”).

Noun

idea f ‎(plural ideas)

  1. idea

Related terms

Hungarian

Etymology

From Latin idea, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”). [1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈidɛɒ]
  • Hyphenation: idea

Noun

idea ‎(plural ideák)

  1. idea

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative idea ideák
accusative ideát ideákat
dative ideának ideáknak
instrumental ideával ideákkal
causal-final ideáért ideákért
translative ideává ideákká
terminative ideáig ideákig
essive-formal ideaként ideákként
essive-modal — —
inessive ideában ideákban
superessive ideán ideákon
adessive ideánál ideáknál
illative ideába ideákba
sublative ideára ideákra
allative ideához ideákhoz
elative ideából ideákból
delative ideáról ideákról
ablative ideától ideáktól
Possessive forms of idea
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. ideám ideáim
2nd person sing. ideád ideáid
3rd person sing. ideája ideái
1st person plural ideánk ideáink
2nd person plural ideátok ideáitok
3rd person plural ideájuk ideáik

References

  1. ↑ Tótfalusi István, Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára. Tinta Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 2005, ISBN 963 7094 20 2

Interlingua

Noun

idea ‎(plural ideas)

  1. idea

Italian

Etymology

From Latin idea, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”), from εἴδω ‎(eídō, “I see”).

Noun

idea f ‎(plural idee)

  1. idea

Verb

idea

  1. third-person singular present tense of ideare
  2. second-person singular imperative of ideare

Related terms

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”)

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈi.de.a/, [ˈɪ.de.a]

Noun

idea f ‎(genitive ideae); first declension

  1. idea
  2. prototype (Platonic)

Inflection

First declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative idea ideae
genitive ideae ideārum
dative ideae ideīs
accusative ideam ideās
ablative ideā ideīs
vocative idea ideae

Descendants

References

Slovak

Etymology

From Latin idea ‎(“a (Platonic) idea; archetype”), from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”), from εἴδω ‎(eídō, “I see”).

Noun

idea f ‎(genitive singular idey, nominative plural idey, declension pattern of idea)

  1. idea (that which exists in the mind as the result of mental activity)

Declension

Related terms

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin idea, from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”), from εἴδω ‎(eídō, “I see”). Compare Portuguese ideia.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /iˈðea/

Noun

idea f ‎(plural ideas)

  1. idea

Verb

idea

  1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of idear.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of idear.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present indicative form of idear.

Etymology

From Latin idea ‎(“a (Platonic) idea; archetype”), from Ancient Greek ἰδέα ‎(idéa, “notion, pattern”), from εἴδω ‎(eídō, “I see”), related to French idée.

Pronunciation

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