idée fixe

See also: idee fixe

English

Alternative forms

• idee fixe

Etymology

Borrowed from French idée fixe (literally “fixed idea”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iː.deɪ ˈfiːks/ (or as French IPA^(key): /i.deɪ fiks/)

Noun

idée fixe (plural idées fixes)

1. (psychology) An idea dominating the mind and maintained despite evidence to the contrary; (loosely), an obsession.
   • 1904 April 30, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC, page 212:

     “There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called the ‘idée fixe,’ which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man who had read deeply about Napoleon, or who had possibly received some hereditary family injury through the great war, might conceivably form such an ‘idée fixe’ and under its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage.”

   • 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 13, page 171, ¶ 13:

     [“]A foreign policy of domination through spiritual means is [Jorane Sutt’s] idée fixe, but it’s my notion that his ultimate aims aren’t spiritual.[”]

   • 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Penguin, published 2004, page 182:

     The sage's solitary fantisizings about the heavens have turned monstrous, his yearnings for knowledge have swollen into idées fixes

   • 2009, Gary Clark, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 9:

     His conclusion though is illuminating, and established a theme that was to concern him for the next forty years of his life, becoming the idée fixe of works such as The Ghost in the Machine, The Act of Creation and the Roots of Coincidence.

2. A recurring musical theme; a leitmotif.
   • 1922, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, volume 4, page 793:

     a definite musical figure, called the 'idée fixe,' unifying the work throughout by its constant reappearance in various aspects and surroundings

Translations

idea dominating the mind

• Dutch: idee-fixe (nl) f
• Finnish: päähänpiintymä
• French: idée fixe (fr) f, marotte (fr) f
• Galician: teima (gl) f
• Greek: έμμονη ιδέα (el) f (émmoni idéa)
• Hungarian: fixa idea
• Italian: idea fissa f
• Manx: smooinaght chianglt f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fiks idé m

  Nynorsk: fiks idé m

• Polish: idée fixe (pl) f
• Romanian: idee fixă (ro) f
• Russian: иде́я фикс (ru) f (idéja fiks), иде́я-фикс (ru) f (idéja-fiks) (alternative spelling), идефи́кс (ru) m (idɛfíks)
• Spanish: piñón fijo m, idea fija (es) f
• Swedish: fix idé (sv) c
• Turkish: saplantı (tr), idefiks (tr), fikrisabit (tr), sabit fikir (tr)
• Ukrainian: іде́я фікс f (idéja fiks), іде́я-фікс f (idéja-fiks)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.de fiks/

Noun

idée fixe f (plural idées fixes)

1. (psychology) idée fixe

   Synonym: marotte

Descendants

• → English: idée fixe
• → English: fixed idea (calque)
• → Swedish: fix idé (calque)
• → Russian: идефикс (idefiks)
• → Russian: идея фикс (ideja fiks) (partial calque)

See also

• fixette