Other forms: ideas
An idea is a thought that turns up in your mind — the beginning of a plan, a solution, a story. Someone says 'I've got an idea' and everyone in the room looks up.
It stretches a long way. An idea can be an opinion (she has strange ideas about money), a rough sense of something (give me an idea of the cost), or an intention (the idea is to leave before the traffic). It runs with have, get and give: have an idea, get the wrong idea, give someone the idea. 'I have no idea' is the everyday way of saying you do not know. And 'the idea of' something is the thought of it: he could not bear the idea of moving again.
1nounideaA thought or suggestion that comes into your mind, especially a plan or a solution.~66%
“She had an idea about how to shorten the queue.”
2nounopinionAn opinion or belief.~30%
“His ideas about teaching have changed a great deal.”
3nounroughA rough understanding or impression of something.~2%
“Give me an idea of how long the job will take.”
4nounintentionAn intention or purpose.~2%
“The idea was to finish the walk before dark.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 16 sentences found in the wild and placed 16 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
idea is a thought.
Idea came through Latin from Ancient Greek ἰδέα, 'notion, pattern', built on εἴδω, 'to see', and behind that the Proto-Indo-European root *weyd-, 'to know, to see'. For the Greeks an idea was closer to a shape seen with the mind than to a bright suggestion, which is why Plato's ideas are patterns rather than plans. The same root sits behind idol.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyd-
Latin
idea
English, today
idea
Built from
Borrowed from Latin idea. Latin idea (“a (Platonic) idea; archetype”), from Ancient Greek ἰδέα (“notion, pattern”), from εἴδω (“to see”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European weyd- (“to know; see”). Cognate with French idée. a doublet of idée. Related to a doublet of idol and idolum and eidolon.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA