idée fixe
noun
plural idées fixes
(ˌ)ē-ˌdā-ˈfēks 
: an idea that dominates one's mind especially for a prolonged period : obsession
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The term idée fixe is a 19th-century French coinage. French writer Honoré de Balzac used it in his 1830 novella Gobseck to describe an obsessive idea. By 1836, Balzac's more generalized use of the term had carried over into English, where idée fixe was embraced as a clinical and literary term for a persistent preoccupation or delusional idea that dominates a person's mind. Although it is still used in both psychology and music, nowadays idée fixe is also applied to milder and more pedestrian obsessions.
Synonyms
Examples of idée fixe in a Sentence
had this bizarre idée fixe that people were spying on her with electromagnetic waves
Recent Examples on the Web
This is perhaps why their partnership remains an idee fixe so many decades later.
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Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2021
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Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2021
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Cite this Entry
“Idée fixe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/id%C3%A9e%20fixe. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.
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