idée fixe
/ˌiːdeɪ ˈfiːks
/noun (plural idées fixes pronounced same)
An idea or desire that dominates the mind; an obsession.Every time her image appears in the artist's mind it is accompanied by a musical thought, the famous idée fixe of the symphony....
- History, too, has not been kind to Miller's idées fixes.
- There is no doubt a ‘planning orthodoxy’ which creates idées fixes, which they simply cannot depart from.
Synonyms
obsession, fixation, ruling/consuming passion, passion, mania, compulsion, preoccupation, enthusiasm, infatuation, addiction, fetish, craze, hobby horse;
phobia, complex, neurosis
informal bee in one's bonnet, hang-up, thing, bug
Origin
French, literally 'fixed idea'.
Rhymes
- epistle side
- epistling
- epistolar
- epistolarian
- epistolarily
- epistolarly
- epistolary
- epistolatary
- epistolatory
- epistolean
- epistoler
- epistolic
- epistolical
- epistolise
- epistoliser
- epistolist
- epistolization
- epistolize
- epistolizer
- epistolographer
- epistolographic
- epistolographist
- epistolography
- epistoma
- epistome