Webster's English Dictionary

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idea

idea \i--'de--*, 'i-d-(.)e--*, esp South 'i-d-e-\ \i--'de--*-l*s\ n [L, fr. 
   Gk, fr. idein to see - more at WIT] 1a: a transcendent entity that is a 
   real pattern of which existing things a re imperfect representations 1b: a 
   standard of perfection : IDEAL  1c: a plan for action : DESIGN  archaic  2: 
   a visible representation of a conception : a replica of a pattern  obs  3a: 
   an image recalled by memory  3b: an indefinite or unformed conception : 
   SUPPOSITION  3c: an entity (as a thought, concept, sensation, or image) 
   actually or pote ntially present to consciousness 4: a formulated thought 
   or opinion  5: whatever is known or supposed regarding an object  6: the 
   central meaning or chief end of a particular action or situation  Christian 
   Science  7: an image in Mind RESSION: IDEA may apply to a mental image or 
   formulation of something seen or known or imagined, or to a pure 
   abstraction, or to something assumed or vaguely sensed; CONCEPT may apply 
   to the idea formed by consideration of instances of a species or genus or, 
   more broadly, to any idea of what a thing ought to be; CONCEPTION is often 
   interchangeable with CONCEPT; it may stress the process of imagining or 
   formulating rather than the result; THOUGHT is likely to suggest the result 
   of reflecting, reasoning, or meditating rather than of imagining; NOTION 
   suggests an idea not much resolved by analysis or reflection and may 
   suggest the capricious or accidental; IMPRESSION applies to an idea or 
   notion resulting immediately from some stimulation of the senses - 
   idea.less aj SYN syn CONCEPT, CONCEPTION, THOUGHT, NOTION, IMP